[VHFcontesting] Fw: Revised 222 and Up Contest Rally

[peter hutter]

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   ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "peter hutter" <pdhutter at yahoo.com> To: "Packrats Members" <packrats-members at mailman.qth.net> Cc:  Sent: Fri, Jul 28, 2023 at 1:57 PM Subject: Fw: [VHFcontesting] 222 and Up Contest Rally  

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 Hello all Packrats,It's time to dust off your microphones, keys, paddles, speakers, headsets/headphone, top semicircle of VFO/s, and foot switches!  There's a big push by me to promote analog mode activity this time by getting on the radio and actually spinning the big round knob known as a VFO for answering other station's CQs across the bands. Also, please call CQ often. This makes a HUGE difference for everyone, whether you have a small or large station. Don't ignore to turn antenna/s often, even to unpopulated and desolate regions of this beautiful blue planet of ours. There's a likelyhood of an isolated station out in the boondocks who is calling CQ  continuously, only greeted by a self inflicted hoarse voice and to turn off the radio with a diminished moral. This issue has been well documented throughout the years and it's getting worse. We need to keep them present as long as possible by paying attention to them in making contacts. They'll be extremely thrilled when they're acknowledged by handing out interesting and challenging contacts. This reciprocity benefits everyone. It seems that we're relying solely on chat pages and the like for making contacts. They are so many live databases to choose from that could potentially cause a situation of information overload.That's one reason why the bands sound so DEAD during a contest, particully in recent years. It seems that we're flooded with so much stuff piled up on top of the logging screen. A significant amount of time is spent deciphering the information instead of sending RF into the ether. In effect, this reduces the number of stations from calling CQ and people who are tuning the bands think there's no activity and they simply throw the big switch to the off position. A good balance of everything kept in equilibrium is the key in keeping the bands jumping with activity. Yes, the digital modes contributes to the problem, but not all of it. It's very easy for us to sit on a single frequency and let the wonderful software to do all the work. After watching groups of decodes scrolling upwards after each 15 second sequence, we often unconsciously fall into a catatonic state for an extended periods of time. It's like being drawn into the event horizon of a super massive black hole and never return. This alluring behavior sucks all of the critical mass into a 2 KHz channel out of many MHz of bandwidth available to us. It's like throwing a blood laden bucket of fresh chum into a famished shark infested body of water. Think about the consequences of this. Not good. This hurts rovers in a big way!  Remind yourself to change modes often to prevent this phenomenon from occurring. And your mind will be healthier too. Not a bad thing.Bands should be percolating with activity everwhere as if you're listening to a fresh pot of coffee being brewed after you wake up from a deep slumber. Also, you'll love the smell of activity in the morning. Lets improve this contest by participating in it. It's a good way to shake out the gremlins before the September contest. Enough preaching. N2NC, and I are planning to operate again from FN24VR during the contest. K2WW should be joining us as well. We'll be on 222, 432, and 1296. KW for lower two bands and 100W plus a pair of loopers for1296. Maybe we'll double our QSO total on 1296 from two to four this time.

So get on the radio and make noise whether the conditions are poor or decent. Just have fun and say hello to everyone. Remember you only live once.Good luck to all.73, Peter WW2Y. 
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