Topband: cluster-QSOs Y or N ?

Tom Rauch w8ji at contesting.com
Sat Nov 12 05:33:38 EST 2005


> What do others think?  160m is a tough band at times.
Seems
> that non-radio-means assistance is all the rage nowadays -
with
> whole bunch of shortwave newbies either kicking off by
spotting
> themselves or spotting who they just worked (very obvious
when
> followed by string of spots by others of the station that
just
> spotted itself).

It not just the newbies who spot themselves Brett.

160 also has always been faced with the problem of what
really are non-QSO's being counted as QSO's. This has ALWAYS
happened, and will always continue. I have little doubt,
having heard both ends of exchanges, some large country
totals are ripe with QSO's that never really were two-way
contacts.

Why all the fuss and worry? The fact the cluster is involved
probably doesn't change things much. Pusdo-QSO's have been
around forever. Even if the cluster does change things, as
long as the other two guys were having fun we might as well
let it go. In a few years, as a group, we'll all start
dropping like flies. 160 will become a band of no-code ops,
and no one will care who worked who (fake or real) and what
the country totals were.

That's why I care less about "Who's Who" on 160 or what
someone's claimed thirty band country total is. I'd just as
soon say good morning to the same person for 30 years or
play with a new antenna as to work another country, or
pretend like I'm working one. Us dinosaurs should be nice
and love one another despite our flaws, we'll all be in the
same gas tank some day.

73 Tom



More information about the Topband mailing list