[RTTY] FRIEND.INI INSINCERE AND TIME WASTER

[George Johnson]

Mike and all,
Just back home from the weekend at K4JA (KM4M in the contest) after a mad 
drive to stay ahead of Ivan.  It didn't work as the entire drive home to MA 
was in rain and fog today.
Mike, this topic recurs periodically.  I have my own personal Friend file 
of people I contact often but I have also removed references to Jeff, K1AM; 
Barry, W2UP; and can easily pull your call from the file.  I see both sides 
of the discussion and still like to use the file as it is a personal 
one.  I also use the keyboard at times but only on very special occasions 
when I think it won't distract the other station.  The comments by W7LD and 
Jerry, W4UK, reflect my sentiment on seeing my name on the air.  I will add 
Jack to my list...  But maybe that should be "Lucky Dog".

I saw more time wasted with things like  ...KM4M KM4M KM4M de 
E8$XORFKL  PSE  than the Friend file.  A request for a repeat was greeted 
by the same thing.  The dots always came out fine!!  So I will take the 
Friend file over that buffer any time.

Thanks to all for the activity and QSOs.  The station at K4JA is absolutely 
magnificent.  Many people have helped Paul assemble it but it was Paul's 
vision and hard work that made it a reality.  This will be the last contest 
season for K4JA and if anyone has not had a chance to see the site, please 
have a look at

http://www.k4ja.com/

It was a privilege and a pleasure to operate with the KM4M team this year.
73, George .. W1ZT

At 05:43 PM 9/28/2004, W0YR at aol.com wrote:
>This is sure to upset the troops and generate a lot of hate mail, so here
>goes:
>
>Use of the FRIEND.INI file is insincere and a collosial waste of time.
>
>While it is "nice" to see your name on the screen, it's about as personal as
>those  computer generated mass e-mails the spammers send out, or the Visa 
>card
>solicitations that come in the mail.  I don't really know 99% of the people I
>work in a contest.  I appreciate them being there, but I don't know them.  To
>the ones I DO know, I always send a short message, like I did when I worked
>AA5AU (Hey! Big Don!)  or GU0SUP (Phil ur a stalwart -- always there 
>tnx).  I'd
>rather get three messages from people I know, than 1,497 from those I don't.
>
>
>(What comes to mind are the people who have never worked you before and start
>calling you by your exact first name as it appears in your FCC record.
>Others have you in the log, once, seven years ago and they come on like it's
>old-home week.  There is a word for this: INSINCERE.   The only people who 
>call me
>"Michael" are people who don't know me, and my XYL when she's highly 
>hacked.)
>
>Then there is the subject of wasting time.
>
>Others made more; I made 1,500 QSOs in the CQ WW RTTY test.  Given that it
>takes approximately one second to send "HI MIKE", that means I wasted up 
>to 25
>minutes reading my own name on the screen!  That's nearly half-an-hour of
>operating time.  I could make another 40 or 50 QSOs in that amount of 
>time!  And if
>I wasted time sending "HI NAME" to everyone, that would be nearly an HOUR of
>time wasted.  (60 - 80 additional QSOs and, who knows how many of those would
>have been mults?)
>
>The goal of a contest is to make the MOST contacts, whether QSOs or Mults.
>The argument, "It's ONLY a contest" is specious.  Being polite is important.
>Being  chummy is not, in a contest setting.
>
>There's nothing wrong with being nice, but sending out a computer-generated
>greeting from a list furnished by someone else is highly impersonal and
>insincere. (Kind of like those Christmas cards where the name is printed.)
>
>To the guys who worked hours and hours compiling the FRIEND.INI file(s), I
>say, "Thanks."  To those who want me to send a computer-generated greeting 
>their
>way in the middle of each contest QSO I say, "No Thanks!."
>
>73,
>
>W0YR/4