[CQ-Contest] Past Prediction of the Future of Contesting.

[Kevan Nason]

Bill, AA4LR,

Well... Here is what I was responding to. You wrote:
"If the band map is moderately full, you are better off tuning up the band
and picking off spots as you go. " and "Second, when you do tune to a spot,
it’s hit or miss on how fresh it might be. Fresher spots tend to be more
competitive and it takes more time to get through, which hurts the rate. If
you are clicking on recent spots, you will waste time."

(A bit long)

For the last several years I've held the belief that in most cases an
experienced contester can tell within two or three seconds after tuning in
a QSO if the runner is experienced or not. If the op is a good runner then
an experienced S&P op has a better chance of quickly breaking through the
pileup. That's true whether you are at a superstation like NQ4I was or at a
little low power station like mine. I forget who it was, but a contester
with a prefix of K2 put out a "rule of twos". Think I first saw that in a
presentation by Gary, W9XT. If you can't bust a pileup in two tries (modify
for your station) then move on and come back later.

If the band map is moderately full then by definition there are a lot of
spots available. Combining those two things above means you can jump from
spot to spot, working or skipping as applicable, at a high rate of speed.
If you jump you spend less time tuning and more time actually in the
pileup. An op skilled at busting pileups can use the time saved by jumping
to make more q's. -- even if some of the stations they jumped to are new
and have small pileups. Ops who tune the VFO instead of jumping are going
to run across stations who just started CQ too. Many times while turning
the VFO I've seen a new signal that isn't yet associated with a spotted
call sign pop up on the Spectrum Display. Just as you say Bill, if I dally
and work a station or two before going to the new signal then a small
pileup is often there when I finally get around to tuning them in. Didn't
matter that I didn't jump to the signal. I still had to put up with the
pileup even though I was tuning the VFO.

I didn't use spots for years. I turned the VFO. I still use the dial and
Spectrum Scope in contests like the NAQP's so haven't lost the ability to
quickly tune in stations. (Yes, I sometimes jump to stations using the N1MM
Spectrum Window too). With a bit of practice, and by maintaining the
discipline to leave a pileup that you can't quickly break through, it is
more productive to jump to spotted stations than it is tune to them. If you
still maintain it's a waste of time because of new spot pileups, then tell
your M&Q window in N1MM to put the oldest spots on top and move down the
list that way. (One of my primary driving principles is if what you are
doing now isn't giving you a good rate then try something else.)

BUT -- I maintain that to win, besides jumping or tuning to spots the
Assisted operator must both run and tune the VFO to find unspotted
stations.

I think it was Jeff, KU8E, who mentioned something I have also found to be
true. The runner who combines jumping from spot to spot on the 2nd radio
has a big advantage. That person combines mults coming to her that never
call CQ with being able to find mults who mostly run so won't be picked up
on her running radio. Other than 2BSIQ, I think you'll find more and more
people that win are jumping with their second radio. Despite claims of a
few years ago that Assisted ops can't compete with Unassisted, you are
seeing more and more top ops enter the Assisted category. As they do,
Assisted scores are beginning to be higher than unassisted. That's likely
due to how they are using the second rig to pick up those mults. Having the
ability to jump from spot to spot on the 2nd rig rather than mentally
process tuning the VFO, and then being able to use recorded
audio/CW/Digital macro F-key file transmission, frees their attention so
they can maintain a decent run rate at the same time they are putting new
mults and q's in the log on radio 2.

I'm not very good at that 2nd radio stuff yet, but even I am seeing the
benefits of the 2nd rig being used in that way.

Kevan N4XL