[VHFcontesting] Spotting and the DX Cluster in VHF contesting...

[Marshall-K5QE]

Hello all...well, at least we have the beginnings of some kind of 
rational discussion about the spotting problem.

Apparently, the east coast believes that the DX Cluster spots are the 
way to go.  When you can post, "I hear weak pings on 50.265 please 
continue calling on 2nd sequence", then maybe the DX Cluster spots will 
be useful.  Or maybe, "W3XYZ, please call me on 144.142 on FSK".  Maybe 
their way will turn out to be a winner, but I think that we need a lot 
more than what you can get on a cluster spot.  Remember, we are allowed 
to post a lot more than just, "I see W4XYZ on 50.125".

Many others have recommended the ON4KST chat pages(of which there are 
several).  When we were at DL88 running the K5N call, we posted that we 
would use the ON4KST Region 2 50MHz chat page as our primary page.  The 
ENTIRE time we were there, the Region 2 50MHz chat page was filled with 
European operators discussing their feedlines and everything else but 
Region 2 and 50MHz.  I could hardly get a post in edgewise.  I have 
never used the ON4KST pages again.  But maybe that would be a valid way 
to proceed.

Jay-W9RM makes the point that we MUST NOT split up into many different 
ways to do this.  He has a point.  However, it is probably not going to 
be useful to have a bunch of meteor scatter guys posting to a page 
normally devoted to JT65.  So, some segregation seems necessary.

I said before and I will say it again, "I don't exactly know how to do 
this".  Jay is right that we need to figure this problem 
out.....otherwise, we will end up with small groups scattered all over 
the place--which certainly will not result in more QSOs.  Currently, we 
have PingJockey for meteor scatter and the EME-1 page for those 
interested in EME.  Probably, ON4KST has similar pages, so if we just 
use those two, we are already split in half.

OH, what to do, what to do??

Rational thoughts, new ideas, and / or intelligent solutions are 
welcome.  Flames will go directly to the bit bucket.  They will not pass 
GO and will not collect $200.

Thanks in advance for rational ideas and good discussion.

73 Marshall K5QE