[CQ-Contest] CQ-Contest Digest, Vol 215, Issue 42

[Pierre Fogal]

I thought I would chime in here ...  I have been the guy in the NT working
with wires and low power trying to make myself heard in the south. Probably
a bit worse for me as I was in the far north of Nunavut at 80N.  I like to
contest, and I will stay on for many, many hours battling the propagation,
sometimes the weather, and always the qrm from the huge, huge signals that
are found on the bands.  It seems unfair to the northern operator that
often we can hear all you southern guys so very well, and none of you can
hear us.  I heard VY1CO (but I don't know if he's the guy that emailed
WA7BNM) and he wasn't very strong here.  I tried a couple of calls when I
could tell that he had finished the previous contact, but I soon gave up
because so many stations were just sending their calls relentlessly.  From
here, it was tough for folks to complete their exchange with him because he
kept getting clobbered.  On his end, he probably just heard a cacophony of
sound with bits of intelligibility that might be the right bits.  If you
are at best a casual participant in contests, you won't stay on long
listening to that.  So, all that to say, give some thought to making it at
least a bit tolerable for the guy on the other end.  Perhaps then he stays
on longer and shows up in the next one.

For those that have asked about VY0ERC operations ... we are still
side-lined by the pandemic.  Currently we cannot travel into NU without
being identified as "essential personnel".  That might happen, and if it
does we hope to be in place for the major 2021 winter/spring tests.

The last thing I'll say, is that I cannot believe how much easier it is to
operate in contests from ONS rather than NT/VY0.  You can hear stations,
they can hear you, and the atmosphere is quiet.

73, and stay well!

Pierre VE3KTB  and co-founder VY0ERC


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2020 17:46:37 +0000
> From: Ken K6MR <k6mr at outlook.com>
> To: cq-contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Non-Contester's Experience from a Rare Mult
>         in Sweepstakes
> Message-ID:
>         <
> BYAPR07MB6214C368D4486517425BB8E29EFC0 at BYAPR07MB6214.namprd07.prod.outlook.com
> >
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"
>
> Sheesh.  We should be sending Thank You cards to these guys.  I don?t
> think any of them are contesters, and if something like that happened to me
> I?d be tempted to sit out the next few years and let everyone think about
> it.
>
> Thankfully I think that attitude is very small in the contesting
> community.  At least I hope so.
>
> Ken K6MR
>
>
> From: Bruce Horn<mailto:bhorn at hornucopia.com>
> Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2020 20:32
> To: cq-contest<mailto:cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Non-Contester's Experience from a Rare Mult in
> Sweepstakes
>
> Thought I'd share the following message I received from a non-contester
> regarding his experience in the recent Sweepstakes Phone contest.
>
> ------------
> Despite adverse conditions and a storm that blew thru 2 weeks ago
> taking down all antennas, I made an effort to get on. Not because I
> like contests but because I know some folks like getting the Yukon or
> 'NT' mult. Parts of it were OK, but when a mega station comes on and
> asks me to 'move' (apparently because my weaky watt 200w Plus and a
> dipole arrangement is disturbing him on 20 and later 40, its a bit
> rich. I guess the VY1! call is a threat to the big 'W'
> stn...whatever. sorry to those of you who I was unable to work or
> hear...the challenges or Aurora and North of 60 conditions
> ------------
>
> 73 de Bruce, WA7BNM   (bhorn at hornucopia.com)
>
>
>
>