[RTTY] Blacklisting over zealous callers

[N3SL at aol.com]

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:48:33 -0500, "Robert Chudek  - K0RC"
<k0rc at citlink.net> wrote:

>I have not participated in  a DXpedition, so I'm not certain how much QRM 
abuse I could tolerate.
 
==================
 
Well, I have, and I think this entire thread is from the wrong  perspective.
 
To bring a pile up to a complete halt in order to chastise a station is a  
total waste of time.  Since this thread is about RTTY, I'll leave it at  that, 
but it still is not widely different from CW or SSB.
 
While all on "this side" of the pile up may think it's warranted to send  the 
blacklist message, it reflects an inexperienced operator, or one who simply  
does not know how to control the pile up (or his temper).  Running a pile  up 
from the DX side is something you have to experience.  Take the  beginning of 
CQWW RTTY and multiply it by a minimum factor of 10.  From the  DX side you 
have very little choice other than to work the ones you can print  and get them 
out of the pile.  It may be a "shame" that the "lid" has the  strongest 
signal, but so what?  You haven't got time to fart around with  nastygrams.  It's 
easier to work him so he goes away.  Most people on  "this side" of the pile 
most likely couldn't copy the guy anyway.  And with  RTTY, it's even more 
difficult than other modes, even with a 300Hz filter and  the best decoding device, 
be that hardware or software.
 
Frankly, the non-stop callers, jammers, cops, etc are FAR MORE of a  
disruption to a pile up than a VERY few stations who dupe.  Many people,  including 
Doug, TQS, who is on Swain's, AA5AU, etc, have published excellent  guidelines 
on how to "behave" on this side of a pile up.  Unfortunately,  the "me, me, me" 
mentality prevails.
 
The topic of this thread is certainly not new.  Before we even left  for 
Agalega, we had a meeting to discuss exactly how to handle the KNOWN abusers  of 
multiple Qs.  The list was extensive, and I would doubt many of you  would be 
surprised to know the USA lead the count.  Europe had a few, South  America a 
hand full, and Japan - NONE.  Be that as it may, our unanimous  decision was to 
work them and move on.  You have to realize, that if you're  copying/printing 
xx1xx, it's because he's strong, get him out of there by  working him!  CW = 
5 seconds.  RTTY = 15 seconds.  Big  deal!  It's certainly better than 
spending 30-40 seconds to hand type a  rebuke of some sort.  Personally, I don't 
think things like the "blacklist"  message are common.  How many times do you see 
that?  Nigh upon to  never.  It's not necessary, not "professional" (IMO), and 
adds absolutely  nothing to the pile up clearing effort.  It probably made 
the Swain's op  "feel" better.  I'm happy for him.
 
If someone feels it's absolutely necessary to "deal" with the offending  
station after the expedition, so be it.  Again, that takes more time and  effort 
than it's worth.  So xx1xx had 8 Qs on 20m RTTY.  What are you  going to do?  
Deny him a confirmation.  That serves a great purpose -  not.  This is a hobby. 
 N8S has over 5000 RTTY Qs.  So how many  stations are blacklisted?  Really a 
worthwhile endeavor..... 
 
And lest you counter that working xx1xx 8 times kept 7 others from making  
their one-and-only RTTY Q, I direct you to far more people who get some sort of  
thrill from working them 9-band RTTY, which serves no purpose whatsoever, 
other  than ego feeding - unless, of course, your only 17m Q was RTTY.  But to 
say  "wouldn't that be a rare one" for 160 RTTY is beyond me.  Rare for  what?  
A competition of 1, me thinks.
 
Bottom line:  The DX can/will do what they wish.  The rest of the  world 
needs to back off, relax, and remember this is a hobby.  They can  also plan to be 
DX themselves one day.  Then they can send all the  blacklist messages they 
want....
 
Off soapbox, returning you to your normal programming....
 
Steve, N3SL, and part of 3B6RF




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