[UK-CONTEST] Attitudes to SSB and CW contesting

[Tom Wylie]

Please dont put down digital modes - I enjoy the challenge of RTTY and find 
RTTY contests everybit as interesting at CW or SSB.   I seldom do the ARRL 
series nowadays, as I get bored working streams of Ws.   I do come on the 
lower bands and see if I can fill a few state slots but thats about all. 
When it comes down to it, CW  CQWW is just about the most boring.   INS, 
Enter and + are the only commands needed.   The computer even puts in the 
zone for you - all you have to do is decide if its correct or not...  Its 
alomst as interesting just playing on Morserunner - who needs to out in the 
cold and wet building antennas, or the hassle of TVI??

;-)
Tom
GM4FDM
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Tran ZL1CT" <zl1ct at gm7v.com>
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 9:55 PM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Attitudes to SSB and CW contesting


> Saturday 19th March 2005
>
> Hello all
>
> This is something that's been on my mind for quite a few years, but I've
> never seen it discussed on either the cq-contest reflector or here on the
> uk-contest reflector. Many subscribers to the cq-contest reflector are 
> prone
> to immediately flaming any postings that don't suit their (narrow)
> point-of-view so I thought I would post this here first and hopefully
> stimulate some more thoughtful discussion. I'd like to quote from a 
> personal
> e-mail discussion that I've been having with 2 other UK contesters in the
> past week or two - this is a lengthy quotation but outlines the concerns
> very well :-
>
> "I sometimes get the feeling that there is a rather snobbish view taken of
> SSB contests amongst some of the UK and WW contesting fraternity, never 
> mind
> the view taken on contesting in general amongst some other parts of the 
> ham
> world in general. The subtle and almost subliminal denegration of SSB
> contesting irritates me. I think this 'CW elitism' may actually do harm to
> contesting.
>
> Any young contester coming along these days is likely (statistically
> speaking) to find CW quite tough and CW contests in particular. If the 
> part
> of contesting they can more easily get right into...SSB...is somehow put
> down by some elder statesmen, there is a danger the newbies will not wish 
> to
> be seen/heard doing something which is 'inferior' and just go off and
> operate data modes and the internet.
>
> I fully appreciate that many do genuinely prefer CW, and that is 
> absolutely
> their right to chose but with some, and I really mean SOME and not all,
> there is a feeling that SSB is not 'proper contesting'. Perhaps I am
> paranoid but how often have we seen comments like ' xxx SSB contest coming
> up (groan)' or comments by those who feel obliged to point out that while
> they have or will take part in the SSB leg etc, they much prefer CW, as if
> they are embarrassed to admit that they took part in an SSB contest. And 
> the
> worst ever was around last year's CQ WW events when one well-known US
> contester came out with the memorable sign-off to a reflector
> contribution...'we don't need no stinkin' microphones' (think that was 
> what
> was said anyway) "
>
> I agree 100% with these sentiments - in my experience of many SSB and CW
> contests, successful SSB contesting is every bit as demanding as 
> successful
> CW contesting. I also think that sign-offs like 'the SSB contest was OK, 
> but
> the real contest is at the end of next month' do more harm than good.
>
> 73
> Chris
> ZL1CT (GM3WOJ)
>
>
>
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