[VHFcontesting] controversy

[Nate Duehr]

On Jul 26, 2008, at 8:28 AM, k4gun at comcast.net wrote:

> Perhaps it would help to get an idea what other rovers are doing as  
> far as contacts with other rovers.  In June, I made 251 QSOs.  Of  
> those, 13 were with other rovers.  This was as a Limited Rover.   
> That's just over 5% of my total QSO count.
>
> I would be very curious to hear what the others are doing.  Those of  
> you who have more experience than me, what is the absolute maximum  
> number of times you could imagine contacting other rovers without  
> going as part of a group?  What is your log showing?  Is it 10 to 20  
> percent?  Am I low?
>
> Steve
> K4GUN/R

EXTREMELY hard to quantify other than to just show you my numbers for  
out here in Rocky Mtn Division, Steve.  (For 2006 & 2007.  I couldn't  
rove this year in June.)  I can e-mail you the logs off-list if you  
want them.  I have nothing to hide.

Generally speaking, the very low numbers of operators anywhere else  
other than VHF/UHF out here means that working the few multi-ops who  
have all bands, and the few rovers who do also, might mean on one  
band, I might have a particular rover at 50%, whereas on 6m, 2m, 70cm,  
they'd be a piddly part of the overall stations worked.  If 6m opens  
here, I'm squarely in the category of rover who makes LOTS of contacts  
and my percentages of locals worked, drops.  If 6m sucks, someone  
could look at my numbers and make up all sorts of evil made-up reasons  
why I only worked 10 people -- just because of our demographics and  
wide-open spaces.

I can guarantee that one of those years above, the only mode one of  
the rovers had was 927 FM.  I worked him.  He worked me.  Every time  
we switched grid squares.  We traveled together for one day in 2006,  
and worked each other as we crossed grid lines.  On day two, he went  
the "reverse way" around Denver, and I only got him at a grid line  
once.  It's just "normal" out here for rovers.

In those years, I never heard anyone else anywhere near 927 FM, but I  
worked a few multi-ops on 902 and 903 SSB of course.  The total number  
of callsigns in my logs for 900 MHz that year is something like five.   
And I won the rover category in the Division.  That's how sparse the  
upper bands are out here.  You win by adding bands, and that's  
expensive.  Ultimately, it's silly.  If you don't enjoy taking a ton  
of radios out and playing with your skills and radios in the middle of  
nowhere, you

Some of Gene's "ethics" comments in "The World Above 50 MHz" recently  
in QRZ were a bit troubling to me here... many of the practices he  
claims are unethical are VERY common out here in no-man's land.   
Helping someone else through a microwave contact with a liason  
frequency is almost the letter of the law out here, not something we  
would easily shun... because we're trying to make spending all the  
money and time putting more bands together FUN for people.

Whereas "back East" (or perhaps even "out West") where you're all  
overcrowded and grumpy -- helping another two stations make a  
microwave contact via a liason frequency and even TELLING THE GUY  
WHERE TO POINT is probably severely taboo.   Guess what?  We do that  
out here.

And here's another "ethical" reason why:  My personal ethics dictate  
to me that I should be a courteous, helpful Amateur Radio operator  
FIRST before being a big bad-ass contester.  Wanna take away my awards  
for that?  Go for it.  I don't care.

I'll relate a REAL example here with call-signs removed to protect the  
innocent:

Rover is out working 10 GHz.  Two multi-ops are trying to work the  
rover.  One finds him (off-frequency a bit) and offers to point at  
other multi-op and transmit on the same frequency the rover is on, so  
the other multi-op can find the rover.  Illegal?  I don't know.   
Unethical?  I don't know.  Do we care?  Not in the slightest.

YES... we help each other out here.  And guess what?  We'll probably  
continue to do so, no matter what some guy says in a QST article.  (I  
respect Gene's article reminding us all of the ethics involved, but  
he's not here, and we're not there.)

Anyone who wants to can DQ me, if they don't like it.  I don't care.   
It just means I have a weekend or two a year, and hundreds of dollars  
in fuel money back, to do something else more fun.  Fun is my limus  
test for this stuff... if it ain't fun, I'm not going out.

The fun comes (out here anyway) in openings to amazing places while  
you're working the same 10 guys you've worked in every contest for  
years.  6m openings are interesting, but normal.  2m openings are far  
more interesting... "That's Pensacola, FL on 2m 30 dB over S9 on a 13- 
element beam on SSB?!  You've GOT to be kidding.  Pull out that  
headphone jack, I gotta hear that!"

222 and 432 and on up openings?  Truly amazing stuff.

I have GOT to get my mobile WSJT running and learn what the hell I'm  
doing with it before next year... I'm sure I'll just sit there stunned  
at what I'm working with bands that "shouldn't do that!".

Anyone bored with VHF+ contesting isn't trying hard enough to be amazed.

Beat your personal best, have fun, and help other people have fun  
too.  Seems pretty simple, but a whole lot of over-competitive jerks  
in contests just don't get it.  You seem to be doing fine, since  
you're here asking interesting questions about your own performance  
versus the "norm".

Wish I had a better answer for you about those percentages, but I'm  
not sure it would be very enlightening. Perhaps you can find a rover  
in your area who's won before who hasn't lost the "helping" spirit  
who'd share their logs or numbers with you.  I think if you compare  
too heavily outside of your home area, you're going to find that  
conditions and operating practices are quite different.

--
Nate Duehr, WY0X
nate at natetech.com