[RTTY] Friend.ini

[Scott Schultz]

Mike,

This is an old horse that has been beated to death over and over for years on one reflector or another. Don't get me wrong, I am all for trying to find ways to maximize contact rates, but I don't mind seeing my name on the screen and here's why. 

While your math may be correct, your logic is flawed. If everyone you worked stopped using their friend.ini file, I agree you would make more contacts. But if everyone stopped using this file, then EVERYONE would make more contacts; not just you!. Your score would be higher, but so would mine because I will probably end up working many of the same stations as you! Even though the scores would be numerically higher, I contend this would not make a bit of difference in the final outcome. Dropping the friend.ini in and of itself will not give you a higher score than Don AA5AU. In order to do that, you have to figure out what he is doing... then do it better!

Finesse is crucial to scoring well in a contest. Frankly, I think most would agree that there isn't a whole lot of diversity in equipment these days. So what makes the difference? The real challenge is developing methods to maximize your own personal rate despite having to deal with those "friendly" ops out there. In order to achieve a high score, one must figure out what bands to work at what time of day (or night). When to run and when to search and pounce. These are just two of the myriad of elements that must all fall in place in order to 
rack up the big points.

I don't blame others for keeping my scores where they are. Contesting is really an art form. The more contests in which I participate, hopefully the higher my scores be. Even though my equipment stays essentially the same, I do try and learn something each time. I continuously look for ways to improve my own operating practices. That is the real goal of participating in a contest!

73,
de Scott N0IU