[VHFcontesting] Single Operators, Ethics, and 6 Meters

[Ev Tupis]

--- In reference to HamIM, Mike (KA5CVH) Urich wrote:
> No I know the difference.  This was not a technology
> question but a question about being assisted.
> 
> If I'm on 50.130 or 144.210 or whatever and I have
> another radio going "hey here I am over here" isn't that
> assistance?  I know the league has bought off on it but
> its just something I would never use primarily because
> of the improbability that anyone else within 250
> miles of me is using it either so it would just be wasted
> dollars if nothing else.
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This isn't so much a question of assistance, then. It is a question of multiple simultaneous transmissions from a single operator station, which HamIM addresses using several strategies.

Choosing to use it or not is a personal strategy, just as the use of 3.4 GHz SSB is...based on local activity. :)

Think of HamIM as having a CQer on a different mode. It's really nothing more than that. There's no assistance at play.

I, on the other hand, found it to be quite successful several years ago when the activity in WNY was hot-hot-hot. I had a 5/8-over-5/8 vertical whip and a 160-watt FM brick dedicated to it in my rover. When parked on a hilltop, I would get noticed by otherwise busy single and multi-ops very quickly. After working "the list" of locals (up to 200 miles) that flocked to me as a result of HamIM's CQ's, I'd chase the rest and then move locations again. It was highly efficient.

However, if nobody else uses it, it is no more useful than activating on another band or mode (WBFM on 10-GHz, anyone?) that nobody else is using.  However, that can change if a small group (a single op and a rover to start) proves the concept to others. :)

Kind regards,
Ev, W2EV