[CQ-Contest] Your Call?

Sat Feb 27 13:22:51 EST 2016

Hi all:

Exactly.  I only ask for a QSY ..when I'm running ...it's relatively 
slow ..and late in the contest.  I also never get offended if they say 
no.  In some contests I'm a fairly rare mult ..if I"m S&P and I'm 
asked ....if at home ..I'll generally do it ...Given a solid state amp 
and a high degree of automation ..it's easy to do.  If I'm somewhere 
where I need to retune an amp to do it ...generally no ..unless it is a 
friend ...or things are very slow. 

My whine was more about folks who only know "contest cw", or are using 
code readers.  Don't get me wrong ...I'm glad for the Qs ..and don't 
wish to discourage anyone ..but a definite change between my first go 
at this 30 plus years ago and now is ...it is hard to get the Q ...if 
anything goes slightly out of "script."  It's one reason I almost 
always log the dupes now ..It's tougher to know whether the other 
station actually logged it correctly ..plus a request for a fill seems 
to almost always end up with a repeat of the entire exchange. 

Now to go chase some kids off of my lawn!

73
Steve KL7SB

On Sat, 27 Feb 2016 07:40:42 -0600, "ve4xt at mymts.net"  wrote:

       Wow. I'd never ask a station running to QSY, and certainly 
wouldn't be such a knob as to berate someone for not. I don't mind 
getting the question when I'm s&p, but I don't feel beholden to agree, 
even though I normally do. 

I was asked once while I was running, and while I wasn't doing SO2R, I 
did have another radio ready to go. So I told the guy to call me there. 
Kept an ear on his target frequency and kept running. Heard nothing on 
the target frequency. He came back to my run frequency and asked 
"Aren't you going to move?" I told him again, call me there, I'm 
listening. Nothing. 

Maybe it was just propagation, but I did hear others from his area on 
that second band. I suspect it was just a scam to usurp my run 
frequency. 

Steve, you weren't asking folks on their run frequency to chase you, 
were you? If so, I don't blame them for not. 

73, kelly, ve4xt

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 26, 2016, at 2:20 PM, Ron Notarius W3WN  wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
>
> I can't speak for any other little pistol or squirt gun out there, 
> but over the years I've learned a bit of a distaste when someone asks 
> me to QSY to another band. 
>
>
> I've had the request made on one of those rare times I have a run 
> frequency going. If I've got people calling me, I'm not leaving. 
> Worse, I've had people ask this, I would go and work the other band 
> (and I don't always have propagation at the time), and on my return 
> find that the station that asked me "as a courtesy" was now working 
> my run frequency as his. 
>
> When I'm doing S&P, again, I may not have propagation to that part of 
> the world on the other band at that time. And I may have other 
> reasons for not wanting to QSY at that time. 
>
>
> But the biggest reason I've come to dislike the requests... when (and 
> this happens primarily on voice modes) I'm asked and I decline, the 
> other guy starts giving me an argument. I'm in the middle of a run, I 
> have a half-dozen people calling, and someone wants me to stop cold 
> and discuss why I want to stay put, or don't want to go to another 
> band right then and there?
>
>
> Now, I don't mind if, while doing S&P, the op of a M/2 or M/M tells 
> me that their other station is on, well, whatever frequency. 
> Especially during the Sunday "doldrums". As long as they simply 
> mention it. Again, though, when the other op demands to know why 
> not... I mean, really. It's not like a W3 from PA is exactly rare, 
> and I get that they'd like to maximize the number of Q's on each 
> band. So please don't take it personally if I don't QSY to another 
> band. 73, ron w3wn
>
> On 02/26/16, sbloom at acsalaska.net wrote:
>
> I'm not sure changing the exchange is realistic (though man that *IS* 
> a great idea) ...but I will comment that I find it increasingly 
> difficult to communicate *anything* other than the contest exchange 
> with most folks. I always try to get guys late in the contest 
> ..if/when things are slow ..to QSY to other bands ..and I'm probably 
> down to 1 or 2 in 10 ...giving me any answer at all ..yes or no ...no 
> matter how much I QRS. Probably not much that can be done ..as code 
> readers become more popular ..but it does suck. 73
> Steve KL7SB
>
>
> On Thu, 25 Feb 2016 16:09:21 -0500, Jeff Clarke wrote:
>
> A simple solution. Make the callsign part of the exchange like SS. 
> For example if I work P40W he would send KU8E P40W 5NN 5. There were 
> several stations this past weekend in ARRL DX that wouldn't even send 
> their call until they weren't being called by anyone anymore. Some 
> others would work between 5-10 stations before they sent their call. 
> I blame alot of this problem on the dumbing down of DX contesting 
> (and DXing in general) caused by packet spotting. Most casual DX 
> contesters like SOA and just click on packet spots and work people. 
> No skill needed anymore to copy a call or have any knowledge about 
> propagation to know which band to be on to maximize your score. To me 
> it's similar to catching fish in a barrel. Those on the other end of 
> the pileup know this and this is why they don't ID frequently. It's 
> very frustrating for those who still like to be unassisted. It's 
> obvious to me that many of these people also can't copy CW other then 
> their own call. I had a situation on 15 CW Sunday morning in ARRL CW 
> that I had a bunch of dupes that started calling me. Someone had 
> probably spotted my call wrong. It was amazing to me that many of 
> those that called were well known contest calls. They still called 
> even though I was sending my call every QSO. I checked the spots of 
> my callsign after the contest and that's exactly what happened. It 
> wasn't until someone spotted me with the comment "call correction" 
> that the dupes stopped. BTW, I'm not against SOA. I guess I'm just 
> old fashioned because it's just not challenging to me. I like to find 
> stations and band openings on my own. That's more thrilling to me. To 
> each his own. If you get a thrill from clicking on spots all weekend 
> long, more power to you. Kudos to guys like K3WW and AA3B who have 
> good stations, are great run operators and they know how to 
> interleave spots between their runs to maximize their score. Jeff KU8E
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