[RTTY] Band Plan and RTTY contesting

[Vladimir Sidorov]

Gents,

I'd ask for your indulgence 'cos I gonna make a move against the official 
beacons' policy headline...

The beacon network has been built in order to watch eventual band openings 
for various parts of the world. It is of great help for bands like 12, 10 or 
6 m, for example. But what is the reason to watch beacons if a band is 
widely open and there already are numerous stations heard from all over the 
world? Who needs to try to catch an African beacon if an African station 
keeps a good run of EU and NA stations just a kc off, or even (forgive her) 
right on the beacon freq?

If there is a choice between policy and sanity, I for one would better go 
for sanity. I like to keep a receiver on a beacon frequencies. If a beacon 
is heard, it's a good sign to tune around the band or call CQ. But if 
somebody else's activity is heard on the band instead, I'll make my own 
judgement on the prop without checking out the beacons.

Sorry, could not resist.

73,

Vladimir VE3IAE

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