Topband: DX window

[Garry Shapiro]

As the old melodrama went:

"Why must there be fighting and violence, violence and fighting?"

Answer: because that is the way people are.

The Gentleman's Agreement works on a Gentleman's Band. 160 may have been
that at some point---it isn't now, at least certainly not during contests.
Even out of contests, I have many times gotten into piles for a station I
have never worked, only to be beaten to him by the same guys that have used
him as a daily beacon all season, and missed out. "UR ONLY 579 TODAY, RICK."
That is not what gentlemen do. And so on...

A DX window works if everyone observes it. There are three problems:

* casual operators do not know about it.
* there is confusion about who is entitled to use it. "Intercontinental
QSO's" means your continent and someone else's. It does not mean W9's
working the Caribbean--if you accept the literal definition of
"intercontinental",
* win-at-any-cost guys do not give a crap.

If you think a window is vital to you in the midwest, think about being in
California.

In the past, I have scrupulously observed the 1830-35 window when it has
been "strongly recommended" by contest organizers too fearful of the
politics (and unenforcability) to actually insist upon it. I have done my
share of moving violators out of it. I have refused to call domestic CQers
running in the window. And so what? They get answers to the CQ's, and they
work the DX.

This time, in the STEW, there was no mention of the window in the rules or
on the reflector, and, as W8JI and others pointed out, the ARRL had already
given up on it. Nonetheless, when I felt free to CQ around 1832 or whatever,
I was harassed until I moved.

Garry, NI6T

-----Original Message-----
From: topband-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Ron Feutz
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 8:33 PM
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Topband: DX window


Topbanders,

A window is absolutely vital to me.  Under usual conditions, with the
auroral oval cutting off most EU and JA DX, I need a place to go and see if
anything is coming thru.  In the Stew, US stations for the most part stayed
out of the old window, 1830-35, and it was pretty useful for me.  I did ask
one US station to move, as he was calling CQ on top of a G.  I quickly
explained this and he answered OK SRI.

All the debate over who is DX is just a bunch of blah blah blah to me.  Why
can't we just go back to the Gentlemen's Agreement and leave that chunk of
band for non-NA stations to CQ in?

73,

Ron - WA9IRV


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