This
is my 'civilian' ham radio page from whence I share with you things
about amateur radio which really have nothing at all to do with either
RWES or TAARC. This is the page where we just talk, one ham to another,
about . . . well, about "ham stuff". So, let's jump right into it with
something that's been, as we say here in Texas, "eatin' on me". (I'll
be adding more pages and links as we go along, so don't forget to
scroll down past the article for more goodies)
THE CONTEST THING
In the January 2008
issue of QST Magazine, the official publication of the ARRL, Andrew
Eaton, VE7REF, wrote a letter bemoaning the fact that on many, if
not most, weekends, the bands are covered with contesters from one end
to the other. All he asked for was that contest organizers or sponsors
restrict the action to a portion of the band, leaving non-contestors
some bandwidth to operate in while the event was underway.
His letter was answered by ARRL's Contest Manager, Sean Kutzko, KX9X,
who quoted Rule 97.101 which states that "no frequency will be assigned
for the exclusive use of any station", and went on to say that "if
you're not interested in contesting . . . you have plenty of
alternatives available to you." He then went on to point out, rather
condescendingly it seemed to me, that contesting is prohibited on the
WARC bands and that if "you feel the phone bands are too crowded, you
can operate CW, RTTY or other digital modes. If there's a contest on
HF, you could operate SSB or CW on VHF." He ended his response by
saying that "Part of the fun of Amateur Radio is exploring new bands
and modes of communication . . .."
I'm not a contester, never will be. But I have no problem with those
who enjoy that particular aspect of our hobby. However, there are
problems that are caused by limited available bandwidth, x number of contesters, y number of non-contesters and everyone's enthusiasm for their own operating modes and preferences.
One of the main problems is that good operating practice is sometimes
sacrificed in the quest for one more contact, grid or entity. For
example, on a recent weekend I dialed up 40m PSK31 on my rig
and started DigiPan. I wasn't pleased when ALL 26 'channels' of my
display filled with:
CQ CQ CQ PSK DEATHMATCH CQ CQ CQ PSK DEATHMATCH DE <CALL REDACTED> PSE K
I couldn't make contact with the station to advise
him that his signal could have benefitted from a reduction in audio
level, but I wish I could have. As it was, I just turned off the rig
and read a book. I don't believe that anyone chooses to ignore good
operating practices when they enter a contest. I do know that it's
possible to overlook certain things in the desire to win. Sometimes
folks get stuck in the "more power" or "more drive" syndrome and don't
take the time to ask for a signal quality
report. So, contesters, I ask you -- please don't give up proper
operating practices and simple courtesy in the hunt for one more
multiplier. And, non-contesters, the same goes for us as we co-exist
with our fellow hams.
Now, let's address the issue raised by our brother to the north. I do
not believe that it should be necessary for us non-contesters to give
up an entire band or all the non-WARC bands, or change to a different
mode, merely to accomodate a contest. There IS a solution available and
it is totally dependent on the organizers and sponsors of the various
contests. Will this solution I propose satisfy everyone? No, it will
not. It is a compromise and, as such, will probably not totally satisy
anyone. But, it's a possible solution to this ongoing problem.
If the organizers of a contest can specify it as, for example, a 20 m
SSB contest, they can just as easily specify it as a contest for a portion
of the 20 m band. In the rules they could simply state: "This contest
is for the 14.250 MHz to 14.350 MHz portion of the 20 m band ONLY. QSOs
on any frequency outside of this range will not be accepted for
scoring." As I said, it won't make anyone completely happy, but we
could probably live with it for a weekend. How about it, contest
organizers, want to give it a try? Rule 97.101 doesn't really apply
here -- it's up to y'all.
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