[Elecraft] EQP - RST reports

Mon Mar 15 22:23:00 2004

Ron,

I think there's another point to this too. In a normal QSO I generally don't
give an RST report until I've had a full exchange with the guy, so that I
can judge what his Readability Strength and Tone really are. How can you do
this in a contest unless you sit there for a few minutes and judge the guys
signal? Are you going to send RST 467 SUM QSB ES SOME HUM ON YOUR CARRIER
during a contest ;-) I think that this is silly...

73's Trev - KG6CYN
http://www.qsl.net/kg6cyn
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 3:33 PM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] EQP - RST reports

Earl brings up an excellent point about RST in the contest. I don't think he
owes anyone an "apology" (tongue-in-cheek or not) for giving everyone 599.

I think that Earl did EXACTLY the RIGHT thing by programming in 5NN in his
keyer memory. After all, in a contest there are NO rewards for using a
"real" RST. The rewards are for the most contacts, so the RIGHT thing to do,
if one is actually IN the contest, is whatever it takes within the rules to
maximize the number of points gained.

For those ops who are simply making some casual contacts, are we helping the
guys trying to run a good score by sending something unexpected like a REAL
RST? I think not. I'm happy to squeeze the cans onto my head to catch his
call, then give him 5NN so he can move on quickly to the next contact for
his score sheet.

It was different 40+ years ago when keyer memories were even rarer than
keyers. Straight keys and bugs were the 'keys du jour' for almost everyone.
An operator's automatic response upon hearing any signal at any time was to
assign it an RST, so reporting the RST as part of the exchange was
interesting and even informative. I often worked Field Day or Sweepstakes to
evaluate antennas, etc. Sometimes I'd switch between two antennas - one
contact on the extended Zepp, one on the vertical, to get a "feel" for how
they got out by who I worked and by looking at an average of dozens of
reports from various locations.

But that hasn't been true in decades now. Why keep whuppin' the dead horse
of contest RST's? He's not even a carcass any longer -- just a few bones
left where once there was a real thinking head and trembling fingers on the
hand-pump.

Ron AC7AC

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