[CQ-Contest] Little pistols, big guns, band police, frequency cops and an army of law enforcers
Franki ON5ZO
on5zo at telenet.be
Wed Mar 9 14:56:33 EST 2016
>It would be interesting if a major ssb dx contest dared to restrict...
YES! We need that. We need more restrictions. We need more rules. We need more enforcement. We need more policing.
We need someone who has an idea have rule makers make a new rule to adopt this idea and then enforce this upon others.
We need to give people more reason and channels to complain and snitch about other people.
That way we can finally squeeze all the fun out of it, and make it dull. Conformity and unity for all! Don't step out of the line! Make sure your signal isn't bigger than mine, or
I will have my lawyer contact yours.
And then, FINALLY our contesting micro-cosmos will at last be a picture perfect imitation of the Real Adult World anno 2016.
In the end it is just a hobby. The greatest there is, no doubt, but just a hobby.
I will be the first to list up dozens of aspects that bother me very much. Many items on that list surface here once in a while. Other items never fail to disappear from the
reflector. Some imperfections of the hobby frustrate me more than they should, because I too tend to take all this far too seriously.
Maybe smart people could invent a mode that packs 1000 stations QRM free with 100% error free transmissions that propagates 24/7 into the antipodal region with 10W driven into a
rain gutter. That would solve many problems but what would the fun be?
Let's accept the imperfections. Isn't that just the fun of it all? The challenge? Dare I say: The Heritage?
Let's accept our own limitations (budget, spare time, real estate, geographical location, skills etc) and make the most of it using our strengths.
Like to run? Run! Don't wanna run? Tune the band and look for me. Hate SSB? Next week it's CW. Is 34WPM too QRQ? I will also answer you at 20WPM if that suits you. Does your index
finger hurt from spinning the VFO? Just click from spot to spot. Don't like Americans? Next week we look for the Russians. There is enough diversity to please almost everyone,
except those who can't be pleased.
Let HAM SPIRIT prevail, which includes 'flexible interpretation' of band plans (CW vs SSB etc) and technical awareness (modulation, clicks...). That MIGHT eliminate the need for
more rules and more enforcing, no? Common sense and empathy can eliminate many law books.
Dear fellow contesters, I appreciate all the contacts logged in the past and those still to be logged. Whether you ran 24/36/48 hours occupying a single frequency with your 8kW amp
and 15kHz wide signal from your off the shelf commercial 5/5/5 stack, or if you called me deep down in the noise with 2W from a salvaged power supply MOSFET into a string of wire
in your attic. In both cases you 'cramp my style', but I grant you the right to do so. And I thank you for the QSO in the contest. Because that's what we do.
Live and let live. And 73.
Franki ON5ZO / OQ5M
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