Hi,

I know that there is a lot of support for this idea and boom here it is. I don't know if anyone ever asked about opposing views. If I had seen a post asking about opposition I would have just jumped right in. I think that for those of us that are non-contesters but also quite active, contests interfere, take over too much space and time on the bands as is. QTX folks are driven to other activities (i.e clean up your shack or do a gardening project for the XYL on many weekends when we are relegated to 30, 17 and 12) ). CWT which I support fully, takes up hours of band space on Wednesdays and who knows how many more hour slots will be grabbed in the future. It happened this year, another hour gone on Weds. (I am not complaining about Weds.).

I have seen posts supporting this latest new contest from CW leaders and frankly people that I totally respect and admire. I am especially surprised at the willingness to jump in with support from leaders in CW OPs and Academy. This is too many hours for this adventure in contesting. We already have slow contests on multiple days. How many of those folks are going to be dropping into CWT in the next year, or ten years that are products of SST? When will it stop, the growing demand for taking our main bands away from alternative uses, for yet another contest and another.

What about the fact that it is possible that this coddling of beginners and intermediate CW level hams will "dumb them down" and prevent growth. I would bet there are very few people that have really started to participate in CWT after these slower speed contests. They seem to just get comfortable at slower speeds and less skilled operating. Further, take the folks who think that they are good contesters as slow speeds or say 22 wpm. Ask them to have a QSO and watch them bolt after the second exchange because they either can't handle the speed at 20 wpm if it isn't as wrote as callsign, number and your state. Third exchanges and beyond ought to be comfortable for competent CW operators. What about using the language of CW to do just old fashion communication versus data exchanges? These contests are feeling like a step towards killing communication for CW operators. When I started hamming and when someone like Howard started hamming, nearly every cw operator was "capable" as a communicator. What percentage of us can communicate using CW in 2022? It is a real failure from this one ham's perspective. Is the goal just more contests or is it to improve the skills and even the speeds of CW operators at beginner and intermediate levels? Is it communication? What is the larger goal of adding more contests? Really what is it? I seriously would like to know.

So, no offense intended. But I am offended and I am pissed. I don't like it a bit and wish others with similar opens might lend some support as my comments are assaulted. We talk regularly and I know that I am not alone. Time for people who love CW more than contesting (many will also be contesters), time for the QTX hams out there, time to speak up and defend our airways from being overrun with contests that are may have zero purpose and that support a further dumbing down of the ham bands.

73,

Phil, NE0S

p.s I am moving to a different state so the bombs directed at my home in Colorado will not hit the spot. 😉

On Apr 26, 2022, at 3:46 PM, "David J. J. Ring, Jr." <[email protected]> wrote:

https://internationalcwcouncil.org/mst-contest/

The ICWC is pleased to sponsor a contest called the MST (Medium Speed Test) to help populate the CW bands with activity on Mondays and Tuesdays at the speed of 20-25wpm. The more activity heard on the CW bands the better chances we have to preserve them. The speed was chosen to appeal to more operators. We look forward to participation worldwide, especially among all the Council member organizations.

MST Rules
Times: Every Monday: 1300-1400Z and 1900-2000Z

Every Tuesday: 0300-0400Z

Code Speed: Please keep speeds at 20-25wpm and be willing to reduce your speed on request.

Power Levels: QRP (5W or less), LP (6W-100W), HP (Over 100W- maximum allowed for your station)

Frequencies: in KHZ. ICWC is following the bands plans of IARU.

160m: 1812-1828
80m: 3528-3550
40m: **See below for QRP frequency

7025-7040 in IARU region 1 (Europe, Africa, ME, North Asia)
7028-7050 in IARU region 2 (The Americas)
7015-7029 in IARU region 3 (S. Asia, E. Asia, Pacific)

20m: 14028-14050
15m: 21028-21050
10m: 28028-28050

**All IARU regions respect the QRP frequency of 7030 +/- 0.5khz where any running station (calling CQ) should be at 5 watts maximum

Exchange: Name and QSO serial number

Scoring: To be submitted to 3830scores.com website without logs. Keep logs available in your station.

The final score can be calculated by counting 1 point per QSO (work a station once per band only) and multiplying total points by the number of unique callsigns worked. Example:

If you had 75 QSOs on all bands with 40 unique call signs, your score is 75 x 40 = 3000.

State which power class: QRP, LP, HP and check SO2R and/or remote operation if applicable.

Award Certificates: At the end of each calendar year ICWC will award participation certificates calculated as follows:

1 point is awarded for each MST you participate in.

Reward Levels:
Gold level: 100 points
Silver level: 70 points
Bronze level: 40 points

To request your reward, please go to this website Contact Us page and send us an email:
Please email us at: [email protected]
For Japanese, please email us at: [email protected]

73

DR
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