[VHFcontesting] Magic in the September VHF Contest

[O C CURRENS]

Hello to the group,
I have been sitting back now since the contest just listening to all the pro's/con's, yea/nea, and everyones opinion.  I have hesitated getting in this slug fest so to speak. But this post to me says it all.  He made his contact the way it was intended.  Almost everyone has their opinion on what is being bashed about on here.So do I. Just as an observer, seems like if everyone on here would put as much time on the air as they have here bashing each other, that there would be plenty of involvement and no shortage of participation.  To me, contesting is just plain old getting on the air and making some noise. On VHF and above, the more noise you make the more contacts you will make. 
Twenty years ago, I was a hard core contester. Ran all bands 6 thru 1296, running legal limit on most bands and H-frames with 4 phased M2'd on most. Had over 325 elements in the air.  I would alternate beam headings based on the time of day, weather, and operator density.  Seems here by all the posts ,most are concerned with everyone knowing when and where they are at calling CQ. Whats wrong with just calling CQ multiple times. To me it was "call and listen, call and listen, call and listen, move beams some and start the process over. When conditions where good, there where lots of contacts, when bands where dead, I don't care how many times you could post your CQ and location on every reflector known to modern man, you won't make many contacts.  It's the nature of the beast.  I am sure i will probably get bashed on here, but my take is, spend more time on the air, calling CQ and listening, and a whole lot less time trying to figure out how you can
 post your call on the internet.
 
On a foot-note the last time I counted the ARRL certificates, I had 26. Always Ky, Several Great Lakes, and my pride and joy ...9th place in the nation.  On 6mtrs alone I worked 247 contacts in 48 states, no opening to Alaska or Hawaii from Ky.
 
So let the bashing begin !!
 
On a second foot-note  been licensed since 1966 when I was 13 yrs old. Love CW and PSK31. Not afraid of a PC, been Elect Eng for 37 years.  I develop Robotic Integration Software Apps.for the automotive industry.
 
 

________________________________
 From: jon jones <n0jk at hotmail.com>
To: "vhfcontesting at contesting.com" <vhfcontesting at contesting.com> 
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2013 1:43 PM
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Magic in the September VHF Contest
  

Todd, KØKAN EM19 worked AA4ZZ EM96 in the VHF contest on 144, 222 and 432 MHz Saturday night Sept. 14 (15th UTC)
on a narrow tropo duct. He found AA4ZZ "the old fashioned way" -  by tuning his radio. 

"Absolute high point of the weekend... Heard AA4ZZ *calling CQ* on 2 meter SSB
Saturday evening. I called him, he called back but had trouble with my call, so I called
back on CW. Made the QSO, moved to 432. Then moved to 222. Also worked on CW. 
EM19 to EM96 on 144, 432 and 222 MHz... " - KØKAN

To me these contacts Todd made are the magic of VHF/UHF and what make the contest special. 

- NØJK


> When you show someone ham radio - a lot of the magic is that you can
> tune around the radio and hear stations and call them and make
> contacts at random with people that you do not know.
> 
> If you have to send an email or call someone on the phone to get them
> on the radio so you can show the radio off kind of takes the edge off
> the magic.  It sends the message that you have to have the internet or
> the cell phone or something to even make a radio contact. That just
> seems wrong.  We already have a lot of hams that think they have to
> use DX spotting systems to find and work DX. - K5TR

                          
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