[CQ-Contest] Key Clicks in ARRL DX CW

[David Siddall]

W1AEX already beat you to it, at least for SSB. In the spirit of getting
into the proper frame of mind for ARRL Phone, you can view his "Hall of
Infamy" at:
http://www.w1aex.com/hoi/hall_of_infamy.html  (warning: not "contest"
oriented, but same principle).

For readers who are unintended offenders rather than intentional habitual
offenders, which includes most (I hope), you will find a review of
suggested "clean-up" resources in my December 2015 and January 2016 CQ
Magazine Contesting column.  For phone ops, I also recommend checking out
K9YC's excellent article in the March-April NCJ.  There's a few intentional
wide-signal contesters, but I continue to believe that most such signals
are unintentional and a little knowledge would help clean them or help in
rig selection next time around.

The cleanest rig out of the box in clicks with rise time set correctly and
not adjustable, and least transmitted IMD, is the Elecraft K3/K3S.  But
many others are acceptable if correctly used, and hopefully some of the SDR
radios will spend the time and at least equal the K3S without additional
add-ons.  One advantage of SDRs is that they can be improved with new
software.  (I am not a K3 user myself, but I admire their industry-leading
clean transmit signals when properly run.)

73, Dave K3ZJ



On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 5:08 PM, Björn SM0MDG <bjorn at sm0mdg.com> wrote:

> With SDR and panadapters becoming more and more used in contests, why not
> a “wall of shame” where screen shots of CW clicks and SSB splatter can be
> posted?
>
>
> 73 de Björn,
> SM0MDG
> SE0X
>
> On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 8:07 AM, Randy Thompson K5ZD <k5zd at charter.net
> <mailto:k5zd at charter.net>>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > We added the signal quality rule to CQWW, but we receive only 1 or 2
> direct
> > and specific complaints after the contest.  We need more of those to
> gauge
> > impact and to know where to look.
> >
> > This is problem that is going to take a long time to fix, but it has to
> > start with peer pressure.  I.e., naming names publicly and often.  Stop
> > saying things like "S5 station" and actually say their call.
> >
> > Randy, K5ZD
>
>
>