[CQ-Contest] Running re S&P in contests

[Ray Day]

RE: Personally, I find trying to run when the rate is less than about
70/hour to be utterly boring, and I'd rather S&P at half that rate.  It
doesn't maximize my score, but it's a lot more fun. However, when the S&P
rate gets down to 2/hour......

 

 

Yes, me, too. I enter contests for the fun of operating, working new
band/slots, new personal best, etc.

 

I hardly qualify even for "Little Pistol" status, having only low wires for
antennas and a take-off angle screwed by a hill up to 25 degrees elevation
to my NE (from So. Calif.) - I'm amazed anybody in Europe even hears me at
all.  BUT I'm like a dog with his head stuck out of a car window - he's
having a blast, not caring so much how fast he's going or where he's going,
but just happy. That's me every time a station comes back to me and I hit
"enter" and another QSO goes into the log. Happy.

 

That said, I, too, would rather do S&P at half the possible run rate because
I'm doing *something* (tuning/listening) rather than just pushing the CQ F1
button if the run rate is low (assuming I can find a run freq - although I
can almost always find a clear freq higher in the band). True contesters
IMHO go by "rate, rate, rate" - I go by "fun, fun, fun." When it's not fun
anymore, I violate the BIC rule and putz with my QSL worked/needed charts,
etc. But after a bit of that the rig's tractor beam gets me and I'm back
BIC..

 

My $0.02...

 

See you in the next one, 73,

Ray N6HE