[VHFcontesting] September VHF contest

[K7XC Tim Marek]

Notice the man with the rant has the highest score because he did the work
of juggling all those distractions and managed to operate well. Yes it
sounds like a bitch but that's what separates the winners from the rest is
how much harder they work!

lets face it people, the days of CW / SSB ONLY VHF Contests are OVER! FT8
and MSK have changed the landscape, Forever! So instead of complaining lets
learn and adapt from it all.

Whats needed it a web site that is a single stop, fast and efficient,
source of info that supports ALL THE MODES, Legacy and New. Lets Face it,
the hurkey jurkey slow refresh chat pages are a waste of precious time. The
only reason we are still there is they were there First... Just like
LT65... Doesnt make them better, just first and now antiquated. its time to
move on to a better, faster, watering hole of Information and abandon the
slow ones like the antiques they are.

As to operating, try living behind a 2500 ft long shield wall called the
Sierra Nevada Mountains / Pacific Coast Range, place all the active
stations on the other side of the mountains from yourself. Add to that
anytime you aim any other direction the nearest active stations are 400+
miles away. Ponder that for a bit.

I worked my butt of for a score barely above 1K and yet see folks scoring
25K, 50K, and more complaining just how hard it was, how disappointed they
are, etc....  Anytime you want a real challenge knock on my door and have
at it... I guarantee it will be a humbling experience (My station isn't
tiny either).

Anyways, I just get tired of all the Midwest and Eastern folks ranting how
hard they have it and thought I would hand you all a slice of how truly
difficult it is for the rest of us.

All that being said, I had fun, made a few amazing contacts, and learned
better how to use FT8 and MSK144 to my advantage. See you in the pile ups!

73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09jh... sk

Adapt... Overcome... Succeed!!!


On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 9:54 PM, Steve (K1IIG) <stephen.tripp at snet.net>
wrote:

>  Hi Sean good working your Rover this weekend.
>
> Duffy, nice write up with the sensible pros and cons of FT8. At this time
> it does not interest me but I sure could use some
> help with my operation to increase my score. I think I will get Aprs
> installed to find and track the moving targets.
> I tried a quick Rover Setup while on vaca this summer on the Cape and that
> is a ton of work and must congrad those who have met the challenge.
>
> Speaking of confusing station setups, I have a very busy dual monitor
> setup with PwrSdr control software, W3KM logger, grid square locator, ON4
> chat, 3 PST software rotor controls and sometimes QRZ  all on two 20"
> monitors. All this STUFF for 9 bands with 4 transceivers. I am shooting for
> 1 liaison radio and my repaired Apache Anan-10 SDR e/w a Homebrew
> Controller. Just today I bought a curved 27" monitor hoping that it will
> allow me to get rid of one of the monitors. TBD.
>
> So I ask, how in the contest world will I ever have time to spend a half
> hour working one station 20db below the noise floor? I hope to make the
> Packrats conference next month and listen to W3SZ and K3TUF speak on
> "Station Automation". Maybe they have the answers.
>
> It's all good fun,
> 73's
> Steve
> Working on a 10ghz beacon to compliment my other 3.
>
>
>
> I'll bite. VHF contests have a small number of people operating. It's easy
> to slap a wire into a tree and get on HF, getting useful antennas in a
> useful place for VHF is harder despite of the smaller size. Modes like FT-8
> make it possible for someone with a loop in a tree to actually work the
> contest. This means more people can get on the air, and more points for
> everyone.
>
> That said - I'm a rover and digital modes are hard for us. We don't run
> with a generator, and a laptop powered off of our batteries is quite the
> draw. I think it might be possible to work FT-8 with a raspberry pi, but
> it's just more crap to have in the rover and it's already cramped in there.
> Maybe a dedicated rover vehicle that I can permanently install this would
> solve that problem, but thus far donations of such have not been
> forthcoming. I also ran into the situation this weekend where our 2 Vermont
> grids had zero cell service, so ping jockey/on4kst/sms/etc were not an
> option. Duffey has a strong point about operator overload as well, I forgot
> to even do the simple task of pinging with Rover Status to get an APRS spot
> out for us most of the time.
>
> Both sides have merit. I'd argue that these experimental weak signal modes
> may be more in the spirit of amateur radio than sitting on SSB, at least
> it's pushing the envelope of what's possible. As long as I can continue to
> make contacts on non-digital modes, live and let live. There isn't enough
> activity during these events to justify mode-specific dates, and removing
> them would reduce the number of people on the air during them anyway.
>
> Personally, I love the fun little chats you can get during slower times on
> sideband during the contest, and I know the fact that we failed at getting
> our keys connected to the radios (and our poor CW ability) hurt us on a
> couple of contacts. It would also be a huge advantage if I could pick up a
> handful of remote grids with MSK or similar, handy for a rover when you
> don't have 200' towers with stacked beams.
>
> 73,
> Sean Waite, WA1TE (K1SIG/R)
>
> On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 1:22 PM James Duffey <jamesduffey at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> > After two years, the use of assistance is finally shaking out and I don’t
> > think that a fast computer and lots of monitors are necessary to use it
> to
> > best effect. With the recent introduction of FT-8, what, three months
> old?,
> > it is not surprising that people have not learned to use it to its best
> > effect. I suspect that will change when people figure out that they can
> > complete a CW or SSB QSO locally in a fraction of the time it takes to do
> > an FT-8 QSO. I think it a matter of getting used to the mode and not
> > relying on it for high SNR QSOes.
> >
> > Assistance has helped my rover QSO total significantly and at little
> cost,
> > either dollar or time wise, to me. I use APRS-TX to transmit my position
> > and that takes little effort or computer expertise on my part. On the
> fixed
> > stations part, it becomes a bigger effort as they need to have an APRS
> > client available, such as APRS.fi <http://aprs.fi/>, but that does not
> > require a particularly fast computer or an additional monitor. The fixed
> > station can see when I am moving and so ignore me, and when I have
> stopped
> > and am on the air and they can work me. They can see my location and
> point
> > their antennas my way when the chances of working me are greatest. To me,
> > this is a small investment on the fixed stations part for a big return.
> It
> > reduces the uncertainty about rovers that fixed stations have had in the
> > past, primarily, is the rover on the air? and where do I point the
> antenna
> > to work the rover? Good operators will point their antennas at the rover
> > when he is stopped in a new grid and call CQ. That generates not only
> > activity for me, but also for other stations. It is a win-win situation.
> > Having said this, it appears that the ops who would work me first and
> > fastest before assistance became available when I published my itinerary,
> > are also the first to work me now that assistance is allowed. Good ops
> rise
> > to the top no matter what tools are available to use. It is just with the
> > tools one can work more QSOes and mults.
> >
> > I also use texting on the cell phone for assistance, although that can be
> > configured to send messages to the logging computer. Texting is nice as I
> > can deal with it at my own pace. I also get calls to the cellphone but
> > these are not as convenient as they require immediate attention, but that
> > is not always possible given other demands.
> >
> > I have not adopted FT-8 or MSK144 yet, but it appears that those,
> > particularly FT-8, will be necessary to be competitive. I am fine with
> that
> > and a computer logging program can be configured to be compatible with
> > FT-8, not sure of MSK144, so that will be much like operating RTTY on an
> HF
> > contest. I will probably work that up for the January contest. I suppose
> > that I will need to use ping jockey then, but FT-8 and MSK144 ops in this
> > contest have told me that they cold make random QSOes with these modes,
> at
> > least on 6M. We will see.
> >
> > FT-8 is a big improvement over JT65 for both the fixed station operator
> > and the rover. A JT65 QSO takes much longer than an FT-8 QSO and time is
> of
> > the essence for a rover. Waiting for a fixed station to complete a JT65
> QSO
> > while in a grid was frustrating as that could take 10s of minutes.
> Waiting
> > a few minutes for an FT-8 QSO to be complete is a big advantage and I
> know
> > several locals have benefited from that in QSOes with me.
> >
> > But, with all the inputs available to the operator, it is easy to get
> > overloaded. I see the time coming when the successful rover and multi-op
> > stations will have a dedicated situational awareness operator who will
> > monitor incoming texts and phone calls, monitor ping jockey for new
> mults,
> > monitor the various bands on a panadapter, to identify new opportunities
> > and pass that all on to the operators through networked computers.
> >
> > Juggling available resources has always been an integral part of
> > contesting. The advent of assistance and digital modes is only a new
> aspect
> > of this problem. Computers and monitors should be tools to increase our
> > scores, not a means unto themselves. It takes time to work out all the
> bugs
> > when new technology arrives, but that is part of the game.
> >
> > See you in the Sprints? - Duffey KK6MC
> >
> > KK6MC
> > James Duffey
> > Cedar Crest NM
> > jamesduffey at comcast.net
> >
> >
> >
> > WZ1V wrote:
> > > Couldn't operate the entire contest, but most of the time I was on
> > > conditions
> > > seemed poor and activity lacking. IMO these are no longer Amateur Radio
> > > operating skill contests. They have evolved into Computer operating
> skill
> > > contests, where whoever has the fastest and most computers and monitors
> > > running
> > > and can type the fastest wins. Having to juggle between chat rooms and
> > new
> > > digital modes vs. actually operating radio has gotten to the point of
> > being
> > > ridiculous. And what's up with everyone trying to use FT8 to make local
> > 6m
> > > contacts? Half the time they never complete because half the people
> > forgot
> > > to
> > > change to contest mode for grid square exchanges. And the idea of
> > everyone
> > > trying to use just one frequency for this during a contest is like
> > having a
> > > bunch of CB radios all stuck on channel 19 jamming each other.
> > > Another gripe - I can't understand why the League continues to condone
> > > having
> > > the ARRL New England Convention the same weekend as the September VHF
> > > contest.
> > > No wonder activity was so poor around here. OK I'm done ranting - for
> > now.
> > > Thanks to the Rovers and portable operations for providing some extra
> fun
> > > to an
> > > otherwise lackluster contest.
> > > -73, Ron WZ1V
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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