An open letter to all DX contesters

Raise The Jolly Roger!!!!

Best start since 1992. Who’d’a thought? (Not even the Boss, who bleeds black & gold, expected it, and she’s the one who’s always the optimist!)

 

I do not have a problem with people who like nets, nor people who participate in contests, nor those who chase DX, as long as they abide by FCC rules and are considerate to others.

That said, no net ( and no operator ) has a right to any frequency. So if a contest is underway such that 7185 ( or whatever frequency is "intended" ) is not clear, or some DX is working split and 7185 is not clear, then that is simply how it is. Not a problem.

I believe that contesting contributes to our hobby, so do nets, so do many aspects of the hobby.

Most radios have something called a VFO. It enables the operator to change frequency. If a frequency is not clear, the VFO can be used to find a clear frequency! Considerate net controls do not start a net unless the frequency is clear. If need be, they move to a clear frequency and then start the net. How is this a problem?

Many times I have been listening to a so-called net frequency before a net starts. Many times I have heard an on-going QSO or DX station working. And then the net starts and covers them up. How is that right? Or worse, the net starts and then the net complains about QRM from the QSO or DX that was there before they even started.

So. I do not consider nets to be a problem. I do not consider contesting to be a problem. I do not consider DX stations to be a problem. The problem is lack of flexibility and/or lack of consideration for others and/or a fundamental lack of understanding of how propagation works ( e.g., that DX who is now booming in may have been there for hours but was weak, yet he has just as much right to continue to use the frequency as anyone else, and more right than those who arrive on frequency later on ).

 

Who peed in your cornflakes this time?

 

No, but I have this tiny violin playing for the OP....

 

I don't know if they coincide every year, but last year, JOTA was the same weekend as the NY QSO Party. The main station wasn't ready yet, but there was a group of Cub Scouts hanging around wanting to see something interesting.

So I went outside, tossed a 20 meter dipole in a tree, with the peak about 10 feet off the ground, and then ends almost touching the ground. In 5 minutes, my QRP rig was on the air, and they watched intently as a bunch of strange beeping sounds came out of my radio. (The battery is held together with Sponge Bob duct tape, which is important for a couple extra S-units.)

I worked several of them, explained that I was just sending my state. As various beeps came over the speaker, I explained that they were hearing me in ____ County, New York, as I pointed to the ionosphere in the general direction of New York.

So yes, it's good to get kids interested in radio. And in this case, it's a good thing that there was a contest going on that weekend.

 

I think he’s tone deaf. Or he just likes repeating himself. I think we’ve read these rants before, almost word for word.

 

Get a life. You agree with the QRMers? Your reply seems to suggest you do.

 

"Seems to"
Well there you go....
I have a life.
Maybe you should get yourself another life besides Low Life!

 

Play nice, children!