[UK-CONTEST] MYCALL sending, Russian DX, WWYC

[Simon Pearson]

Hi guys,

Firstly, I recommend you put the kettle on because this email is 
somewhat lengthy - apologies!

I have been very interested by the recent discussions on the UK 
Contest reflector, in particular the discussion regarding 'my call' 
sending in exchanges of contest QSOs.

Of course, I very rarely send my call as part of the exchange in 
contest QSOs, and I'm sure it shouldn't really in the 80m CC 
contests (although no experience for me in these contests due to 
lack of space for an 80m antenna). However, I do sometimes give my 
call, depending on the situation - e.g. if there are two guys 
'fighting it out' on the same QRG. An example:

G3SJJ TEST    [I need G3SJJ for mult on 20m]
4XX           [Oh, a QRMer under SJJ]
M0CLW         [Here goes... Who will come back to me?]
M0CLW 5NN TT1 [G3SJJ sends me 001. I may also hear tail-end of
               EA4XX's exchange to me if he comes back to me too but
               of course I don't hang about for him to finish!]
G3SJJ 5NN 34N [I want to ensure G3SJJ knows I'm calling him, because
               I don't know if SJJ can hear EA4XX, and if he does,
               how does he know if I'm calling/working him or 4XX?]
TU G3SJJ      [QSO complete, extra 3/4 seconds to send my call]

This is the *only* time I *may* do it - only if this is the case. It 
is of course dependent on the situation etc. Really, I am doing this 
for all concerned. What happens to our scores if:
1) I log G3SJJ, he doesn't log me, but EA4XX does
2) I log G3SJJ, he logs me too, but EA4XX does as well?

On SSB, the situation might be slightly different. So, it's ARRL DX, 
K3LR are running, and are being QRMed by KC1XX (!). I need PA (K3LR) 
and not NH (KC1XX, who are a dupe anyway):

"Kilo 3 Lima Radio, contest"  [I hear full K3LR CQ]
"Xray Xray"		      [oh, a QRMer]
"Golf One America" 	      [who'll come back to me?]
"G1A five nine New Hampshire" [I get KC1XX exchange in full to me]
"golf [QRM] papa alpha"       [tail end of K3LR exchange to me]
"K3LR five nine four hundred" [K3LR logged, he knows I want him]

I need not say his call in phonetics, as he knows what it is. 
However, what about if I didn't say his call:

"Kilo 3 Lima Radio, contest"  [full K3LR CQ]
"Xray Xray"		      [KC1XX under K3LR]
"Golf One Alpha" 	      [who'll come back to me?]
"G1A five nine New Hampshire" [I get KC1XX exchange in full to me]
"golf [QRM] papa alpha"       [tail end of K3LR exchange to me]
"five nine four hundred"      [no call given]
"G1A for K3LR?"               [he knows he's being QRMed by XX, so
                               just wants to be sure I'm calling
                               him]
"K3 lima radio, QSL"          [QSO complete]

So, I've wasted time as I could have tuned to a new QRG and have a 
new callsign captured in the logging entry field. And, he's wasted 
time, too, by asking me to confirm etc etc.

Am I going about this incorrectly? Is this considered relatively 
poor contest operating practice? I'd like to hear from others...

It's good to see youngsters coming in to the hobby, and that is very 
positive indeed for the future of amateur radio. I just hope more 
join the fun - they do not know what they are missing! Likewise, 
it'd be great to have some more 'mature' UK amateurs joining in the 
fun of contesting...

Everybody has to start somewhere and the RSGB 80m contests (such as 
the club championships and AFS etc) and such contests are a great 
time to 'give it a go'. I'm sure many would like to give it a go but 
feel somewhat intimidated by it all - but the most important thing 
is to just get on air, get some guys in the log and have fun! Yes, 
winning is the goal for most, but I'm sure for some it's not 
necessarily winning that gives them the "buzz" - some just want to 
see how many countries, US states, Russian oblasts, IOTAs etc they 
can work during a contest weekend.

Now, changing the subject slightly...

> Also I was listening a lot over the weekend to the Russian Contest.
> Lots of really slick operators and I saw reference to WWYC a couple of
> times. It was all a pleasure to listen to, just didn't have time to get very
> involved. Chris G3SJJ

The Russian DX Contest is becoming ever so popular. RT9W made 3900 
odd QSOs. Quite an achievement for a 24h contest. Some 2100 QSOs 
were with former USSR. Imagine if there were those many stations 
from Russia and surrounding areas during other major international 
contest weekends?!

Russian DX is one of the most popular contests amongst WWYCers. I 
guess the reason being you do not need a massive station to be 
competitive - Russian QSOs are the key - 10 points per QSO and 
Russian Oblasts are mults. The contest is all-work-all, however, so 
DXCC's also count for multiplier credit too. It's mixed mode, too, 
so plenty of mults to find! Something for everyone, anyway.

I was at G6PZ for this one and we had a couple of WWYCers in the 
team: myself and Stavros 5B4AFM/M0BBB. Just the raw score, and more 
to follow, but the "bottom line" from RDXC at G6PZ is 2563 QSOs / 
609 Mults = 10,723,272 points.

Previous year scores are available from www.rdxc.org... The website 
is excellent, and the organisers have done a great job in generating 
results and statistics that are interesting to browse through. Just 
compare the RDXC website to that of the world's most popular contest.

Oh and just one final thing - make sure you get on-air for the EU 
Sprints, which are coming up in April. Only four hours in duration, 
and a huge amount of fun! A lot of WWYCers compete in this one too.

I need not say any more as the new EU Sprint website is online at 
www.eusprint.com. The site is really amazing, powered entirely by 
PHP and MySQL. I just have to add that the site was created entirely 
from scratch by two 18 year old UK WWYCers - Royce M0RHI and Pete 
M3PHP... "GO WWYC!", as the motto goes ;)

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Paul G6PZ for 
supporting youngsters - he is one of the very few people in the UK I 
know who will let young contesters use his station. It's always a 
lot of fun going to Paul's to contest. He has so far allowed a 
number of younsters: myself, M0BBB, M0DXR, M0SDX and M3CVN will join 
us for WPX.

Thanks also go to the following amateurs for supporting youngsters 
in one way or another, in no particular order: Dave G4BUO, Chris 
G3SJJ, Nigel G3TXF, Don G3BJ (+ Hilary G4JKS), Andy G4PIQ, CDXC... I 
hope I haven't forgotten anyone! I know there are others out there, 
so please forgive me if I haven't included you on the list.

73,

-- 
Simon Pearson, M0CLW
* CDXC * WWYC * UKYC