All I operate is QRP CW - just so you know where I'm coming from. No only that, my current receivers are all direct conversion. And I operate with a stealth, compromise antenna due to apartment living. Regardless of these obvious limitations, I still get on the air during some contests. Not all contests, but some of them. Do I rack up huge scores? No! Do I crack pile ups? No! Do I make some contacts? Yes, more than I expect to. Do I work DX? Yes, more than I expect to. Do I have fun? Sometimes. Do I get frustrated? Sometimes. You know...just like life. You're cheating yourself my not taking some quick dips in some selected contests or special events. And remember: unreasonable expectations are premeditated resentments.
I guess it was only a matter of time before someone picked up the bash ARRL hammer and started blindly flailing away. That fecal matter is getting really tired. The League has covered contests in QST for decades. Nothing new about that. Please re-aim your ire.
All the contests I have participated in, so far, have not listed any frequencies (in their rules) for the Extra sub-bands. Perhaps this is a good reason to up-grade to Extra. You can then hang out in the Extra sub-bands and rag chew. Dan KI4AX
Still trying to figure out what "coin toss" VK6LAB is talking about. I guess, "To contest, or not to contest... that is the question." My answer is yes to both. Contesting gets people on the air. For example, this past weekend--the VHF contest--6 meters and 2 meters. It appears the only time those bands ever open up are when there are contests on them. Sometimes, there are so many QSO parties and contests happening simultaneosly on 40 and 20, the challenge is in keeping track of the appropriate exchange! I also like to pound the brass and have a converstion. There're a lot of CW folks that like to have just a little more of an exchange than the standard contest exchange. I like that also. Seems like there are a lot more people running QRP these days. It's hard to hear some of them, but that's ok. If it works, that good; if it doesn't work, that's ok too. I tune around the voice bands and I don't remember the last conversation I heard that I wanted to participate in. BORING....who cares about your pregnant cat? Who cares about your antenna restrictions? Who cares about your lawn mower? Who cares about what President Trump is doing? I like ham radio because it takes me away from the political crap happening these days. And then I come across some of the conversations on frequencies like 14.313... That's not contesting. That's not rag chewing. That's not ham radio. That's some kind of mental illness--similar to what many democrats, most of the press and the deranged Trump-haters are demonstating these days. What do rag chewers have conversations about? I hear many bragging about their equipment. What do contesters brag about? Their scores, but they brag about it very seldom because that's not part of the exchange. I do have some complaints about some contesters. Seems when there's a RTTY contest, they don't listen before they transmit. My coin toss lands on its edge. I understand some hams are in to some aspects of this hobby that I'm not into. After all, ham radio is *just* a hobby. For those of you who say it isn't a hobby... ya, I read the latest version of part 97 and you're right. No mention of the word hobby in there. 97.1 basis and purpose.... Recognition/enhancement ... value of the amateur service to the public ... voluntary noncommercial...emergency communications. ...advancement of the radio art. Encouragement/improvement ... through rules ... advancing skills. Expansion of ... trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts. ...international goodwill. Well, how the "h" "e" double hockey sticks do you accomplish this? The answer is: treat it as a hobby. Are we setting up to create a message handling network on 2200 meters? Only takes two weeks to send an emergency message on that band. 97.111 Authorized transmissions. (a) An amateur station may transmit the following types of two-way communications: (1) Transmissions necessary to exchange messages with other stations in the amateur service... If there were some kind of apocalyptic event and all other forms of communications became useless, I could instantly switch operating modes and become an efficient message handler. And I could do it better than most of who I hear on the bands today. Until then, it's just a hobby for me. Stop tossing coins and just do it.
I'm not a contestor but if I am tuning around during a contest and here someone form a place that I have never had a QSO and there isn't a giant pileup I will pass on the required information and move on. It isn't really a big time commitment and is not painful so why not? Everyone enjoys a different aspect of this hobby so who am I or anyone else to say what people should do as long as it is legal and does not infringe on others.
I have never understood why contesters need the entire spectrum. Most of my ops these days are on a 20m monobander. Like others, weekends are about the only time I can get on. Except I often can't, because contesters have hijacked the entire band. When I have the luxury I hole up on 30m with all the other hams who are after more than a list of pointless tags. However, since I'm 20m QRP CW the great majority of the time, I generally don't get to be a ham at all anymore. I'm all for hams doing whatever they like best and the rest of us butting out. Contesting seems boring as watching paint dry to me, but it obviously floats a lot of other boats out there. Good on them; may God fill their logs. My only complaint -- and it's a very angry one -- is that somehow it's impossible to reserve so much as 10 khz of the band for anything else. So most contests amount to artificial solar storms, QRTing literally everyone who doesn't want to set a memory keyer to machine-gun "599!" into space. Until we get that respectful subband, don't talk to me about contests or those who participate in them. PS: I've tried many times to get on anyway and find a real conversation, but even though I never send CQ TEST, they still try to work me. Always QRQ (extremely rude) and a torrent of meaningless numbers and letters I've expressed no interest in receiving. I'd like to establish a CQ code that means "don't goddam 599 me". I'm thinking about trying CQ TEST NO next time. (I figure they won't hear the "no" if you put it first.) But even better would be something shorter and more positive, more like "I want a real contact" instead of "don't goddam 599 me." Could be a a single random letter. CQA, CQB, whatever. I'm dead serious about this and would like to hear from others who would also like access to this option on those days when we're body-checked off the air.
Not sure how I can contest. I've heard so many hams brag about their contest radios. I don't think I have a contest radio, but many adverts for ham equip say it's a contest radio? Hmm? I'm so confused. Maybe if I pay several thousands of dollars for equipment; I may be able to contest.. Wait a minute! I don't get paid to use my amateur radio toys..Rats!
KB7PWJ, hmm, interesting point. I like to participate in several contests, like the SKCC sprints/WES's, FPQRP, NAQCC and the annual Novice Rig Round-up. They're all pretty good about narrowing the contest frequencies down to a relatively few khz on all the bands. However, there are some big contests that take up the whole spectrum, like the ARRL Field Day, CQ WW WPX, and a couple others. And I've been casually calling CQ somewhere, been answered, returned with the standard casual Name, QTH, RST and expecting to continue on with what kind of rig/antenna I'm using on the next transmission only to hear either a quick return and an "SK" or nothing at all. And I've answered CQ's and got nothing back but "599 xyz abc" and wasn't aware of what I was supposed to return because I didn't check the WA7BNM calendar to see what was going at at that moment. And I've also just tried again and again and again until I was conversing with someone in the middle of a fire storm of contest activity. The contesters see what you're doing and move on if they're in a frenzy about keeping their QSO rate up. But I do like the idea of having a CQ code that indicates to contesters from the beginning that you're not contesting. For voice, it's a bit easier, just say "CQ not contesting, CQ not contesting, this is ...". But for CW? Maybe "CQN"? "CQNC" would be confusing because then people might think you're trying for any one in North Carolina. I kind of like "CQN". It's close to "CQ NA", which is a standard contest call for North America, but I think it's easy to distinguish between them. This is something that could be mentioned to your ARRL section manager next chance. As a matter of fact, this is something that I will do something about. The following is an email I just sent to my ARRL Section manager, W5GM. ------------------------- Jay, You're not in my log so this is the first time we've QSO'd. I was just made aware of an issue that's not causing folks at ARRL HQ to do back flips, not pending in congress, not causing RFI, not pending comments at the FCC and could easily be handled by the ARRL which would promote better relations among our differing groups of hams. Contests seem to be proliferating these days. Do you ever check WA7BNM's contest calendar? (www.contestcalendar.com). Many times there are so many contests, they overlap. And sometimes I'm not interested in any of them and just want to seek a casual QSO. For voice, it's easy: "CQ Not Contesting, CQ Not Contesting, this is....". But for CW, it's not so easy. How about a "CQ" code for "Not Contesting", like "CQN"? I've googled and not found anything like this. I've been a CW operator since 1976, been a member of the ARRL since then (most years) until I became a life member back in 1998 (ish) and have never heard of anything like this. This is something that could be bubbled up in the ARRL. Maybe mentioned/suggested at one of your next ARRL meetings? Maybe a short article in a future QST? This is something the ARRL could "sanction" which has the potential to reduce stress and anxiety between contesters and non-contesters. This is something that could reduce "time wasters" with contesters and "frustration" from non-contesters. Is this a reasonable suggestion/request for the ARRL? Guy ----------------------- For anyone else looking at this forum frustrated with contesters on contest days, I suggest sending something like the above to *your* ARRL section manager. It's a very reasonable idea. It must start from the bottom. And if there are enough section managers who start to talk about it at their meetings, it'll be noticed. And it's easy to implement.
It is a lot of fun and a great way to achieve awards/certificates if you are working for WAS, DXCC, etc. It also makes you hone your technical and operating skills so that you are a better hobbyist and operator. I started contesting later in my ham radio hobby time - I wish I had started 25 years earlier! Try it - you might like it.
I contest regularly and it is work - no computer generated QSO's for me. I think you are misunderstanding the roles of computers in logging and ham radio.
Funny thing about contests in general: Seems like many stations on the air working each other and seemingly having a good time at it. Then, when the contest ends: Nothing. No signals, no one having fun, empty band. Strange how that works... I also work all week. The weekend is my radio time too. If there is a contest on, I usually just jump in and try to work some of them, or I find something else to do. I don't get angry because the bands are busy. That would be like going to the local mall on Saturday and complaining about all the people there. Is it not better to have activity on the bands? The alternative is no one gets on because they are too worried about trespassing on somebody's secret spot. What a strange way to operate. As long as we are on the subject, why all the animus towards the ARRL for contests? Here's a new flash for the unwary: ARRL only sponsors a few contests yearly, most notably Field Day, Sweepstakes, a ten meter contest, an RTTY contest and a DX contest. Most of the other contests are sponsored by other organizations world wide such as various other national societies, ham radio magazines, and even some ham radio activity groups. So why all the misplaced griping about the ARRL? They don't control the world; amazing as that might seem to some, the ARRL is only one of many national societies under the ham radio umbrella. The OP is from Australia and he put out his feelings about his hobby (no whining about services here, he's in OZ!) and he's getting all the usual flack from the "my way to do ham radio is the only way to do ham radio" crowd. Well, he asked for it didn't he, and he got it... Considering how crummy conditions are right now, any contacts are good, regardless of the mode or activity. YMMV
The last time I even listened to a contest there was a fellow calling CQ and he stopped, listened and came back. "Would the VK3 please try again". This was on 40 meters and getting VK land is just about an everyday occurrence, so I didn't give it much thought. But, I had a very rough time copying this exchange. Again, the operator repeated "The VK3 something again?". He kept digging for that contact and then I heard a very weak reply and it was barely even ESP level. The operator tried again; "The VK3 I'm getting some of you, can you repeat again?". He just kept digging and wouldn't let go. I listened for this response and still was only getting fragments. Then "VK3XXXX is that your call?" and a whimper of a signal came back as "Rodger". For those that don't know the call with four letters in the suffix signified an Australian foundation class operator. They are limited to 10 watts but get this, he was mobile. Quite a dig for one contact on a band that really wasn't that favorable. I answered his next CQ and mentioned that he had done really well digging that signal out of the noise. I also mentioned that he had made that foundation operator's day and perhaps a whole month! So we had a bit of an exchange, gave the required information to validate the contact and parted ways. That was the one and only contact I made in that contest and I felt he deserved it too. Have fun 73 Gary
since 20 is pretty much the only band open now a days what little prop. is on 12 and 17 m is not good enough to have a good rag chew. so the only band to have a rag chew is 20 M and that's impossible during a contest. So many hans sit aside for a weekend with no HF.
