[UK-CONTEST] VHF FD

[Andy Swiffin]

>>> On 06/07/2009 at 12:17, in message <4A51DD32.1050703 at greenrover.demon.co.uk>,
Paul_group <paul_group at greenrover.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Andy Swiffin wrote:
.   
> 
> I think the no CQ'in rule makes sense - in so much as a well sited east 
> coast fixed stn could make a bit of a mess of what is a "field" contest 

That was my one concern in making the comment.

> but how about this as a suggestion.. next time can sweepers call CQ but 
> must QSY after each contact. Lets face it, those entering the sweeper 
> catagory are probably taking part to give points away rather than 
> seriously competing. A sprint type of operation would stop someone 
> running and dominating the event.

Yes, that might be an acceptable compromise.

> Certainly had I been able to call CQ 
> at times it would have resulted in qso's for the portables. Once you 
> hear a /P doing a S&P run you know full well that you "could" work them.

Same here.   For instance the backpackers would probably hear me making a bit more noise on the back of their beams whereas I probably won't hear them.  It's being able to attract attention that's the thing.  Once one station hears someone else working GM you usually find a few appear where there was nothing before!
 
> In terms of power levels, I would happily have run with 100W on 4-2-6 as 
> it wouldn't have disadvantaged me at all. On 432+ it was a waste of 
> time. +6db would have made a big difference when trying to attract the 
> attention of the UK stn's who were beaming the wrong way.

point taken, although you do have some 400km advantage on me before I get to the killing fields of IO83... 

> 
> I can sort of understand this, most clubs struggle to pull together 
> contest teams and some seem to use VHF contests as a training ground for 
> their ops, that is definitely a good idea. I worked a couple of stns on 
> 70cm where the op sounded about 12 years old - they were a little slow 
> but the operating standard was impeccable - well done!

That I can understand and well done to them.  But its the ones who faff and woffle who get my goat.  Maybe I'm more sensitive to it, because all too often I'm listening to someone making a meal of a qso knowing full well that by the time they get it done that their S7 signal will be have magically transformed to S minus7 and I'll have to spend another 10 minutes waiting for that elusive qso.   I have 4 pages of a writing pad with lots of callsigns and frequencies jotted down that never became qsos...  

It's good to use a contest as a training ground - provided that whats being learnt is good technique.

> But, yes - some fairly poor operating. *Caveat* I never claim to be a 
> good operator myself.

Me neither :-)

> One way or another a good event.

Yes.  And with the estimated MUF hitting 300 mhz you were more than halfway to Es on 70cm ;-)

Cheers
andy
'8oeg




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