[CQ-Contest] Contest Recording

[Tom Haavisto]

I see there is a (continuing) controversy about contest recording. My
understanding is the for the CQWW at least, the contest is recorded from
several locations around the world by SDR receivers and then shipped to the
contest committee.

I was very much in the camp of “Well – if the contest committee wants to
hear what happened on the air, they have the time, date and frequency, as
well as a recording if they want to hear what happened."  Until last night
in the CQ 160 contest, and no, I did not record it.

A few times, someone got pretty close to me, and in one case, started CQing
right on top of me. Fair disclosure – I run a KW into a full size vertical,
and these guys were LOUD.  A few times, I even checked the amp and the
wattmeter to make sure things were working, and I was starting to seriously
wonder about a few folks...  Once, twice... OK, something odd is going
on...   A few times when I reverted to S&P, I called a few loud guys, and
it took them several tries for them to pull out my call.  This was not
normal.


As we all know, 160 is an interesting band and still pulls up a few
surprises now and then.  This being the latest example.  An SDR would not
have captured what I experienced - the only way to capture this would be a
personal recording.

Just food for thought.


Tom - VE3CX