[SCCC] re ARRL DX CW 15m SOHP W6YA

Tue Feb 23 18:28:16 EST 2016

There never were any articles or opinions ever expressed, around the
inception of electronic keyers, saying anything negative about them,
particularly not anything about keyers spelling the death of ham radio.

The idea was invented years later by proponents of using spotting to work
contests. The proponents falsely claimed people made negative arguments
against using keyers. They then claimed that arguments against using packet
were similar to these fictitious anti-keyer arguments, and therefore
invalid because there isn't anything wrong with keyers.

73,

Dick Norton, N6AA

On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 12:45 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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