When is a contest not a contest

Bob's excellent post touches on a point that I have made many times: lack of band utilization. I have read a number of assertions that the "WARC" bands (and even the "classic" bands) are "too small" to sustain event-style, or even DX-style, operation. What I typically do when I read this is to look at the panadapters on my receivers, and on other people's Internet-connected receivers, and what I typically see is...dead air. Lots of it: typically 70% of the band is empty during periods of peak utilization. I've challenged people to post screenshots of "full" bands, and I have yet to see anything that even come close.

So let's be honest...what are these complaints really about? I'm asking because I don't see data to support "crowded band" assertions.

 

Maybe it is due to my modest antenna but other than announced contests, like Sweepstakes, CQWW, etc, I don't think the bands are crowded in the least, especially the WARC bands, even when DXpeditions are operating there. Most of the time there is plenty of room for QSO's unless one believes that the band ought to be like the broadcast band, one station every 10 Khz or so.

That's why we have selective receivers, filters, notches, passband tuning, etc.

 

A special event station is not a contest.

 

I think you're being more modest than your antenna

This is why I fact-check myself against other other stations that put their receivers on-line, among other things. It's not just me and my station...it's a couple of hundred receivers. It just isn't out there, so I remain bemused by these complaint...

 

Hi, well I like to think of the centennial as more of a celebration than a contest, and w1aw portable as more a special event station that won't happen again in our lifetime....so WARC bands are OK with me.
Mike N9AFU

 

A contest is not a contest, when you're not winning !!

or..

Whining..