New "Xtreme" Category Added to CQ WW DX Contest

Great idea and a fitting tribute.

 

So, if I answer my cellphone during a CQ sponsored contest I'm automatically operating SO2R?

 

I new there was going to be a smart-ham, but I didn't expect it to be the second post. I expected it to be the first!

Hmm.. now that I think about it, there's got to be a way to incorporate my cell phone in to the mix. I'm thinking of hooking it to my radio and using it as a keyer for CW.

 

They also should have coalesced the single op assisted category into the single op category. The "new technology" of using cluster spots has been "adopted" for 15 years now.

 

Packet-Cluster Spots in Contests

I think there should remain separate categories in contests for those who rely on cluster spots and for those who prefer to find their own DX!

Steve, K4VWS

 

out

If I see the term "xtreme" or similar again, I'll probably vomit. It's right up there with "awesome" and other terms that disclose the lack of success of the American educational system. In the meantime, if it's over the internet, then it's a telephone call or email. Play with the terms as you please.

 

Not only no, but hell no.

There are those of us who like to compete unassisted. We shouldn't be forced to use the cluster.

 

I'm not sure what difference it would make. Seems to me that any time you're spending fooling around on the internet is less time making QSOs on the air.

If I understand the rules correctly, you're still only allowed to transmit one signal on one band at a time.

One thing different is that this category will allow remote operation QSOs. But again, what does that do for you? I suppose if you had enough money you could set up internet remote stations all around the world, so for example you run stations on 10 meters 24x7 depending on where the best propagation happens to be at any given time. But who has the resources to do something like that, and how many people would be able to do it?

As for using the internet to spot stations etc... I suspect more people were already doing that against the rules, anyway.

So basically I don't see what is gained by this new entry class.

Maybe I'm missing the point.

 

It allows for remote receivers, remote transmitters, Skimmer and other advanced technologies.

 

Frankly Scarlett...

 

Good ol' Tim. How are you?

 

I'll go ahead and say what it appears everyone else is only thinking- THIS IS CHEATING! A radio contest should be just that- a RADIO contest. Using the internet to find contacts brings us that much closer to shooting fish in a barrel. The lazy who use the internet to enhance their scores will score higher than those who expend the effort to learn propagation, good operating techniques, and generally depend on fair play to win. What's the purpose? To see how high we can push overall scores in a contest? That's not what contesting is about! Contesting should rely on current propagation and depend on a ham ops personal skills and radio equipment. Using the internet in a contest is like bringing a gun to a knife fight- NOT FAIR! (That is, unless the contesters using the internet compete only amongst themselves.) -KR4WM

 

remote rx

So a californian station can log me on 80m when I use only 5 watts and a crummy dipole. He only needs enough power to get heard in central EU and a receiver here which will of course have no problem with my 5-Watt-signal.

What kind of a contact or qso is this?

I will feel fooled in the future with "qsos" of this kind when I don´t know whether I contacted a DX-station or only his receiver around the corner - but at least it is technical progress...

73, Chris
(www.dl8mbs.de)

 

KR4WM has this on his QRZ page :

" I absolutely despise Echolink, and will go to great lengths to avoid talking to anyone who uses it. If you're going to take the magic out of radio, why bother to get a license? If Echolinkers who are forced to use it because of HOA restrictions would put as much effort into fighting restrictive covenants as they do setting up a PC for Echolink, perhaps we could force HOA's to recognize PRB-1! Without RF, it's just another AOL chatroom."

1. That first sentence is NOT in the Ham or Aloha spirit.

2. The exponentially escalating ( See July QST Editorial ) HOA problem HAS forced thousands of Hams to D-Star, IRLP and Echolink." Forcing HOA's to comply is an almost impossible concept in most urban areas.

3. These systems are better than nothing for those hams to keep in touch with their fellow hams across the world.

4. Echolink IS NOT an AOL chat room. Echolink use is overwhelmingly over RF Repeaters and RF Links. It can be accessed by a laptop ( just like the Dongle interfaces for D Star )