[SCCC] re ARRL DX CW 15m SOHP W6YA

Tue Feb 23 16:00:05 EST 2016

And when you get board, travel the world with your ham radio.(off the
beaten path).

On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 3:45 PM, Art - W6KY via SCCC <sccc at contesting.com>
wrote:

> I wish I could find that article in QST from
> years gone by where 'electronic keyers spellthe death of ham
> radio'...Every technical advance in our hobby is met
> resistance.
> Who knows whats in store over the next 20
> years.. Probably just to stop by the shack
> from time to time to see who you worked..
>
> 73, Art  W6KY
>
>       From: Marko Myllymaki <marko.l.myllymaki at gmail.com>
>  To: 'Jim McCook' <w6ya at cox.net>; 'SCCC Reflector' <sccc at contesting.com>
>  Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 11:13 AM
>  Subject: Re: [SCCC] re ARRL DX CW 15m SOHP W6YA
>
> Well, you obviosuly have strong feeling and opinions of it, but who cares
> what you or me think.
> Try to find activity that you enjoy.  If it is operating w/o cluster, good
> for you.  If you think you don't like to operate at all when clusters are
> on
> then maybe you can do something else during weekend rather than sit on
> radio.  This is suppose to be fun activity anyway and you cannot turn those
> clusters off.
>
> Looks like 3830 postings for past weekend are now about evenly split
> between
> assisted and non-assisted.  So lot of people prefer operating with cluster
> feed on.  All top unlimited guys are accomplished contesters and would
> probably do very well also in non-assisted.  But they have chosen to
> operate
> unlimited because of whatever reason.  They find it more enjoyable.  Maybe
> they find it more challenging.  I certainly think it is more challenging as
> it adds new dimension to time management and multitasking.  I myself think
> that if you get very good at operating unlimited, you will be also very
> good
> at operating un-assisted, as then you would remove one of the challenging
> dimensions if falling back to un-assisted.  Kind of same thing as if you
> get
> very good at SO2R you will also be very good at SO1R as it would be
> simpler.
> This thing is not so simple and one dimensional as you think.  Operating
> with packet feed on is very challenging but with different set of
> dimensions.
>
> Again, I prefer to operate competitively w/o cluster as I don't think I
> would do well with feed on and it removes some technical complexity, and in
> some DX locations cluster would not even be available.  But that is me and
> you.  Other people have different preference and who are me or you to judge
> it or wanting to turn their clusters off.  And this "dark-side" stuff...
> Young kid who would try this hobby instead of say on-line gaming or other
> modern fun they do would find how you and I want to operate very much like
> stone-age and would label us as complete dinosauruses.  Which we probably
> are becoming anyway.
> 73 de Marko
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SCCC [mailto:sccc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim McCook
> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2016 6:42 AM
> To: SCCC Reflector <sccc at contesting.com>
> Subject: [SCCC] re ARRL DX CW 15m SOHP W6YA
>
> Marko,
>
> You're right, of course, that the spotting/skimmers are upon us, and
> there's
> no turning back.  I see no reason to _accept_ the concept, but like us all,
> we just have to work around it. I'll keep working around it, and keep
> shaking my head at the same time, wondering why people use this stupid
> concept for a contest. I did adapt, but hate it all the way.  Progress and
> technology is not always good.  I remember an instructor in school saying,
> "Will you choose the harder right, or the easier wrong?"  As far as I'm
> concerned, spotting in contests is definitely the easier wrong, and I'll
> never really accept it as good.
>
> I compare it to developing a robot to use for playing golf.  All the golfer
> has to do is load the balls into the robot and pick them up in the cup.  In
> other words, it's for lazy people who don't want to work so hard.  What
> bullshit.  This contest was a very clear example, once again, what a hurdle
> it creates, especially for the DX ops.  I still find it incredible that
> serious contesters would want something like this to exist.  It has done
> nothing but create problems like we both know about. _It's 100% negative._
> I even go so far as to say it's like drugs... some contesters apparently
> get
> excited about pushing buttons and not having to hunt, in spite of the bad
> problems.  The other negative effect is that it encourages some DX ops not
> to sign their calls as often because it just makes things worse.
>
> I remember years ago there were commercial fishing ponds along some of the
> main roads.  A pond, maybe 300ft across, was jammed with stocked fish.
> Just
> drive into the parking lot and go fishing.  They rent you a fishing rod,
> bait, hooks, and all you have to do is drop the line into the water, you're
> guaranteed to get some fish.  What a joke that was, too.  They no longer
> exist, most likely because it was a bad idea.  In some states, like Texas,
> ranches import exotic big game to plant on the land so the mighty hunters
> can show up on the weekend and shoot their African animals without going to
> Africa to _actually hunt_.
>
> I have tried using the cluster (unlimited) years ago during a contest, just
> to experience it.  The whole time I felt like a whore.  It was a joke.
> Like
> taking candy from a baby.  For the average hams, it is obviously
> eliminating
> any reason to develop the skill need to find stations on their own.
>
> As far as 15 goes, I was worried when Friday night there were so few mults.
> I heard someone being called by a loud XW4XR, but never found him, and he
> didn't answer my CQs.  I shut things off at 7pm and watched a movie.  The
> next morning it was a struggle to work weak and semi-weak Europeans, but
> finally after 9am I got a run going, which didn't last long.  I did find a
> lot of interesting mults, though.  When the run slowed I started tuning
> around with the SUB VFO to find new mults, such as JY9FC, 5H3EE, V51YJ,
> etc.
>
> On Sunday morning conditions were much better.  I was running Europe much
> sooner, and it lasted almost 3 hours.  One particular run on a single
> frequency lasted almost 2 hours.  It was amazing. A couple of 4X, TK, GJ,
> all the Scandia areas, SV5, UA2, etc all came in a run.  Never heard the
> deep Asiatic Russians, like EX, UN, etc.  It was fun to find most of the
> good mults by hunting them down with the SUB or just tuning around when
> things were slow.
>
> In spite of this, my score was down 30% compared to last year in the same
> contest.  Many less Qs and many less mults.  For me the most fun of all is
> always the hunting.  That's why I view the spotting as such a lousy idea.
> I
> will always think of it as the dark side.
>
> Jim
>
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