[VHFcontesting] Re: Good Buddy QSOs

[Duane Grotophorst]

--- kb8u vhf <kb8u_vhf at hotmail.com> wrote:
> And what if there are only two stations active on
> 902 MHz within range of 
> either WW1WWW/R and NN1NNN?  Why should they not get
> credit for their QSO?  
> Maybe another station will hear them coordinating on
> 144 MHz and get 
> motivated to add 902.  Overhearing stations
> coordinating QSOs on higer bands 
> has motivated me to add them to my station.

Just knowing that they are there is also motivation,
no matter what changes there may ultimately be in VHF
contesting the last thing we would want to see is a
discouragement to adding bands at any station of any
size or category.

> A rule change like this would probably kill nearly
> all millimeter-wave QSOs 
> in contests, and many microwave QSOs in sparsely
> populated areas. It's a bad 
> idea.

Agreed, it is a bad idea, it would clearly punish
anyone who happens to be in an area where there is
minimal activity on any given band. It would
ultimately kill contesting in all but the highest
population density regions of the country. That in
turn will reduce the number of possible grids
available to work, even from the population centers.

> Also note that multioperator stations are
> specifically allowed to work their 
> own operators on 2304.1 MHz and above.  This rule
> seems specifically 
> designed to encourage 'manufactured contacts'.  I
> assume the reason is that 
> by extension it encourages microwave activity in
> general.  Personally, this 
> rule helps my score a great deal.  No, I'm not an
> operator at a multiop nor 
> a rover.

I have always found this rule to be perfectly
reasonable.
 
> I think this manufactured QSO 'problem' is way
> overblown.  If a casual 
> operator wants to give his friend a QSO, or a big
> multiop wants to equip 
> rovers that only have time/resources to work only
> the mother station on 
> certain bands then that's fine by me.  When I hear a
> casual operator doing 
> so I call them immediately and very rarely do I get
> ignored.

This has been my general experience too. Often the
casual op is more than happy to work you because you
may be farther away from them than they thought they
could work.

  Demanding 
> rovers work more than 1 call per band can frequently
> be impractical or 
> impossible.

And just plain counter productive, in really rare
distant grids there may only be one station for the
rover to work on certain bands. Again the last thing
we want to do is discourage people from getting onto a
new higher band, or to get on from a rarer distant
grid.

Duane
N9DG
EN53bj



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