[Elecraft] Contest Reflections

[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy]

J F <phriendly1 at yahoo.com> wrote :

> Lately, I've noticed a lot of folks who send quite
> slow and I speculate these are first time contesters.
> I figure they want to learn the game, but may get
> frustrated if blown out of the water.

> The last few big contests I picked up some nice
> multipliers from guys who were sending slow with
> pileups on them, not because I was the loudest, but
> because I sent at a rate they could copy...
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Hi Julius,

Perhaps some of the people who keep the speed down could work at 40wpm, but 
are experienced in the effects of propagation on paths where multipliers 
might be lurking. A good example of this can be found on the 40m short path 
(0500 Z ish) from here to the West Coast. During the WPX there were many CA 
stations heard at good strength, those running at high speed were difficult 
if not impossible to copy because of the usual echo and auroral zone flutter 
which runs characters together, but those running at slow speed allowed for 
good copy.

As you know I am not a Contester but enjoy dabbling :-)

73,
Geoff
GM4ESD