[SCCC] ARRL DX CW 15m SOHP W6YA

Tue Feb 23 14:29:37 EST 2016

Yes, N1YC was very smart to do split.  He was very weak when I worked him on 1st call.  I would have never heard him answering to me if he would have listened from his TX freq.  More rare stations could use split.  Yes, it has its problems like putting pile up on top of someone else but you really don't need to be very wide at all.  I use split regularly from rare DX location.

I also was spotted couple times on 40  and if I would have not been I would have worked many less Russians and would never had any kind of run to that part of the world with what I think was weak signal from my station.  So yes, it is sometimes good to be spotted.  Sometimes it is not, again it is not black and white.

Bill, I have been doing CW Ops mini-tests for couple years now.  Maybe you know abt those.  Highly recommend those on Wednesdays, 3 one hour sessions at 13z, 19z and 03z each week.  No Sprint QSY rule (which is my preference, ie not need to QSY...).  You may want to try those.  Big activity, made 150 QSOs couple weeks ago on 03z session.  I use those as practice and I think those have really improved my CW skills and I have started to like CW more than SSB which was my preferred mode before.

73 de Marko

-----Original Message-----
From: SCCC [mailto:sccc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bill Haddon
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 10:33 AM
To: SCCC Reflector <sccc at contesting.com>
Cc: Jim McCook <w6ya at cox.net>; N0KQ <N0KQ at spickler.net>
Subject: Re: [SCCC] ARRL DX CW 15m SOHP W6YA

Hi Jim,

[I'm actually an NCCC region stn.  but was in So Cal for 2.5 years while working for Quest Diagnostics/Nichols Institute in Ortega Canyon.  We're now on a Mtn top in Lake County CA]

You wrote:
>Rare mults were hounded by many stations who were zero beat with
each other AND WITH the DX stations.  I saw several of these DX stations go away in frustration.

On 15m Sunday afternoon:

  -- XP3A (Greenland) showed up around noon with a massive pileup. He gave up in frustration after a few QSO's at maybe one per minute

 -- Later, there was 4W/N1YC.  one clever operator ..  he  went high in the band where it wasn't crowded and worked a 1KHz split. . rate 180/hr and no frustration ..  even my modest 150w got him on the 3rd call.  And, these being contesters, there was no on-frequency calling.

A few years ago I stopped using any kind of assistance, including spots, SPC and the like.  My error rates dropped.

But these spotting and skimmer tools seem positive, in part because they permit newer and less experienced hams to get into contesting.
In ARRL DX CW with my own low-power station I experienced a pileup of Eu stations at a rate of 180/hr for about 20 minutes 21,107 Sunday morning.
With a modest station, I'd never have that experience w/o spots.  One small frustration for S/P: .  probably stations sign their calls less frequently, so there's more waiting.  

For experienced ops who put in lots of hours in Sweepstakes there's little or no advantage to Assisted operation as shown by scores for Section
Records at ARRL.org.   Even in cases where the same station has used both
modes in alternate years the record scores usually favor B or A category, or it's very close.  Maybe Dave, K6LL is an exception.

Jim, if you enjoy a contest where there's no spotting going on, consider joining our half-hour Thursday night NCCC Sprints. .  ncccsprint.com ..
we're just concluding, this week, the 25th NS Ladder 8-week competition; then we'll return to the less formal weekly NS run by N3ZZ.  Marko N5ZO has joined us recently and seems to enjoy the activity.  We have a reflector for the contest, nccc-blue, to which all are welcome.

http://www.kkn.net/mailman/listinfo/nccc-blue

73  Bill N6ZFO  (Lake County)

On Sun, Feb 21, 2016 at 9:03 PM, Jim McCook <w6ya at cox.net> wrote:

> Call: W6YA
> Operator(s): W6YA
> Station: W6YA
>
> Class: SOSB/15 HP
> QTH: CA
> Operating Time (hrs): 25.5
>
> Summary:
>  Band  QSOs  Mults
> -------------------
>   160:
>    80:
>    40:
>    20:
>    15: 1076   112
>    10:
> -------------------
> Total: 1076   112  Total Score = 361,536
>
> Club: Southern California Contest Club
>
> Comments:
>
> Although we're seeing a big drop from the last cycle peak, 15 meters 
> was very active and conditions were generally good.  15 was much 
> better on Sunday.
> It
> was, as always, a pleasure to find so many old friends around the 
> world that have been contesting for many decades.  It was a fun 
> contest.
>
> There is a dark side, though.
>
> The negative effects of the skimmers and spotting networks were very 
> obvious in this contest.  Rare mults were hounded by many stations who 
> were zero beat with each other AND WITH the DX stations.  I saw 
> several of these DX stations go away in frustration.  I still envision 
> a REAL contest when all this hand-holding garbage would be shut down.  
> Support for skimmers and spotting networks is for people who want 
> shortcuts and to avoid the real skill of hunting for mults themselves.
>
> Apparently the focus is on score, instead of the real accomplishment 
> of doing it without having a "cheat sheet."
>
> Sorry, I'm very disappointed in what has happened to contesting for so 
> many ops because of their use of technology at the expense of skill.
>
> 73, Jim
> W6YA
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