#47 How to get started in Ham Radio Contesting with the Youtuber's Bunch

Mike, I appreciate your sentiments about contesting, its not for everyone. But being "considerate" is a bidirectional thing. I don't think its a "force" or coercion to point out there are choices of non-contest bands, or lesser used frequencies in nearly every band, and suggest that non-contesters would be wise to simply do what savvy radiomen have always done, avoid the congestion of the moment.

73, John, WØPV

 

But John, why should I, or others who are not contesting, have to avoid the congestion? Don't we all have the same licensed access to ALL bands?

 

Yup, we all do, within license constraints. (upgrade incentive)

Mike, mingling with or avoiding the contest crowd are each valid options. Be empowered. Make a choice.

 

Generals don't have the same access as Advanced/Extras do so it pays to upgrade.

http://www.arrl.org/frequency-allocations

 

You are probably correct, and after 60 years pounding brass as well.

 

When I hear a contest tearing up the Maritime net on 20 meters, I get an angry, sick feeling in my stomach, then I go out & burn some ammo

 

what a load of manure- contesting is about as far from emcomms as you can get. Just listen to a traffic net like Mars sometime

 

@N7DSW

What happened to your email address?

 

Traffic nets such as MARS or NTS can be great activities. During the late '60's I was a member of Army MARS and passed many a radiogram from troops. However, the typical net activity is ROUTINE. Highly predictable with very little to no spontaneous elements.

While such nets are a good training ground to teach ops basic messaging techniques, local nets typically lack some essential qualities evident in a real EMCOMM situation, ie, testing of station readiness to communicate to anywhere required, adjustments for DX weak sigs and QRN, QRM, QSB, and most importantly MESSAGE URGENCY.

That last one is quite important. Outside of an occassional special exercise event that includes some competitiveness between groups and measurements of results local traffic nets do not put much pressure on ops that "time is of the essence", an essential element for true EMCOMM.

Back during the First Gulf War when I was still in MN there was a very special example called Project Desert Voices. Read and view info about it on this link.

It started with dedicated radio amateurs planning and executing building a station from scratch (think Winter Field Day on steroids) that would rival any CQWW Multi-Multi contest facility. This was followed by 24/7 "butts-in-chairs" operating stamina that made typical weekend contests look lame. It was the op's with amateur radiosport experience that shined brightest during those days.

Similar conditions were experienced during Hurricane Maria that devastated Puerto Rico. For days the only communications with many towns on its west coast was via HF amateur radio. Many messages passed directly to the mainland via marginal DX propagation paths and provided both essential servies and health & welfare reports, which demanded accuracy, and judging from the emotion heard in the recipients voices were time critical, both qualities of radiosport contesting, as can be heard in this audio clip.

Sure, many contest QSO exchanges seem oversimplified, ie, TU 5NN FL, and so draw scorn from non-contesters that do not appreciate or want to acknowledge the values contained in the wider context beyond the exchange as explained above. However, again, those type of QSO exchanges are not universal.

Some contests more effectively promote not just testing of station readiness and time urgency to make contacts, but also the quantities and qualities of the data, or message, being passed. The best example, again, is the venerable Worked All Europe series of events, which contain the QSO option called "passing QTC's".

For the participant this is an exercise passing dynamically changing critical data accurately under pressure. The reward is of course many more points added to the contest score. This occurs in all mode versions of the contests, CW (Morse), Digital (RTTY), and Phone (SSB) There are searchable examples of all but below is a clear example of the latter.

I would like to see WAE QTC type data be incorporated into the ARRL Sweepstakes, after all it was the original contest based on traffic handling. Other contests have other interesting QSO exchanges that are more meaningful as well, like the Top Band Distance Challenge that rates QSO point value from calculated DX distance between grid squares.

RADIO CONTESTING HELPS PREPARE STATIONS AND TRAINS OPERATORS FOR EMCOMM TYPE ACTIVITIES.

73, John, WØPV



Another example showing a bit more challege, lower signals levels, fill requests,

 

You owe QRZ.COM a bunch of emoticons. Please try to consider your fellow Zed Forum users in the future - they may need one of 'em.

 

Contesting definition. "The time usually during a weekend when radio amateurs turn on their radios, and make hundreds of contacts on multiple bands with contacts all around the United States and the world and at a predetermined time turn them off and go back to complaining that there is no use doing radio lately because the bands are dead?"

 

On the contrary, FT8 is the only thing that DOES keep some of these bands alive.

 

Why? 17 meters has some of the best DX available.

 

Excuses. Put up a wire or a cheap vertical and its done.

 

Don't go to the grocery at 9 am on a Saturday morning.