[CQ-Contest] Fwd: Worldwide Digi DX Contest

[Lew Sayre]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: w7ew at arrl.net <dr.biggun at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 13, 2020 at 9:27 PM
Subject: Worldwide Digi DX Contest
To: cq-contest at contesting.com <cq-contest at contesting.com>


If you are asking if the Digi Contest was fun then either you don’t get it
or you’re a troll. Most ops who don’t care, just ignore the Digi stuff and
go about their business. Some Ops are just obvious trolls.

     I’ll answer the question with my observations about the Digi-Wigi
contest.  Why should you even pay attention to what I write?  It is because
I placed third in world, Single-Op, high power from the West Coast with a
very low error rate, I’m told.  So a few of us have figured out things
about the Digi contest. I’ve also managed big CW and SSB piles from places
like VP8, ZL8 , FT5, etc.  So I do like this radio stuff whether it is CW,
SSB or  gasp  Digi!.

  Was it fun? Yes it was.  23.5 hours of intense DXing using brand new
modes that are waiting to be exploited.  I rarely can go full time in any
contest for a variety of reasons but the time was available for this Digi
contest so I was all in.

     I went full SO2R.  That means I had a signal on the air most all the
time when I could find 2 bands that were open. You have to pay attention to
the propagation and who is ripe to pick up with your next transmission on
each radio. If I had to choose between a YB or a W1 then I’d go with the
YB…duh.

  My gosh… the computer was doing everything?  Nope. The computer was
decoding multiple stations at a time for me to pick out the best one in a
second or two to make the next Q. A delay would cost me a cycle of time.
Yes I can decode CW and SSB in contests in my head but not 20 stations at a
time.  This is a like drinking from a fire hydrant at times and remembering
to breath correctly or I’d drown.  Fun….Heck yes!  I had to understand the
propagation or lack thereof in order to keep the stream coming. I needed to
judge when to change bands or take a break…pretty much like any other
legacy contest. This will be a serious kick-ass contest when we have 6 live
 bands to play with.

     The smart guys and gals at WWROF had the foresight to use a distance
mnemonic for scoring.  It’s not quite right but a huge step toward making
the scoring of a real DX test more equitable.  The stations near population
centers still have an advantage but not near as much as with the outdated
country/zone as a multiplier.  This is a new contest and I’m glad they took
the risk.  Scoring the third highest world total from the west coast in S/O
Hi Power without having any real propagation on 80M or 160M is something
I’m very happy about. My points/Q are higher than the two excellent Ops who
finished above me but that is how it has to be due to my location in this
world.

     I understand the artistry of 2BSIQ and the beauty of the Stalwarts who
are doing it.  2BSIQ is the natural evolution of CW/SSB contesting and can
generate big scores for the Ops who torture themselves to get good at it.
Radio Old Farts grumble at these Ops with new skills which are clearly
advancing the art of radio. I see FT* contesting in a similar way except it
handles the manipulation and management of the radio signals in a different
way than ever before.  I think 2BSIQ is  harder because the Op has to do
the decoding of the piles to obtain the best score.  In digi contesting the
decoding is already done but the management of the  multiple streams will
determine the score.  So I see Digi-Wigi contesting as something new for
the Radio Old Farts to wrap their brains around as something  to carefully
and respectfully examine. If it is not for you, then fine. Denigration of
anything new seems to be a human foible but Radio Operators should try to
be above that.  I also see it as a way for the radio newbys to have a taste
of contesting and to see if they might like it.  Maybe call it a gateway
into the more mainstream SSB/CW  world that we recognize.

    So did I have fun? Heck yes!  It was a very good, very new radio
experience.  If you are not trying something new or embellishing some
aspect of radio that you are already proficient at then you’re just
 “comfortably numb”…as Pink Floyd aptly wrote a long time ago-

    “You are only coming through in waves

     Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying”

So I have, by becoming uncomfortable with this new Digi stuff,  hopefully a
better radio person.  We’ll see.

73 and I remain,

  Lew     w7ew













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