[UK-CONTEST] Split Frequency in Contests?

[Jim Martin]

I think for the first time last weekend I heard contest stations working
split. They were not exactly exotic or rare prefixes so why the split
operation?  Others like XT2DX and HC8N had huge pile-ups but always managed
to skilfully work their way through.
Is this to do with the calibre of the operator or a ploy to spread out the
callers and have an operator work the stations and another 'tee' up the next
QSO? Muscle should not be a substitute for skill.
Whatever the reason, many times over the weekend I heard chunks of the band
rendered useless by this practice and felt sorry for the stations who had
been running on the previously clear frequency and then being drowned under
a sea of callsigns. In a contest situation I would rather  take my 'little
pistols' chances in the pile-up and if it's too busy try again later. For
the last hour of the contest I called XT2DX on 80m along with 'hundreds' of
others, unfortunatly, I didn't make it this time, but there is always next
year. That's what makes it fun!
Jim   MM0BQI