[Elecraft] COntest free zones

[Jim Brown]

On 3/21/2013 3:42 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:
> Actually, entire bands have been declared "contest-free" by general 
> agreement among hams, worldwide.  30, 17, and 12 meters have been 
> contest-free from their beginnings in 1979. 

Yes, and these bands are EXCELLENT for QRP, rag-chewing, digital modes, 
and back-packing because the QRM level is usually much lower and a lot 
can be done with simple antennas.

As to contesting -- the reason the bands are full during contests is 
that a LOT of hams are using them, and are using them very actively. A 
major contest will attract thousands of participants worldwide, and the 
more serious operators will often make several thousand contacts in a 
weekend with about half that many different stations.

By contrast, if you tune around the bands at times when a contest is NOT 
going on and count the QSOs, you'll find a tiny fraction of that 
number.  I've got pretty good antennas and a fairly quiet location, and 
I rarely hear more than a handful of signals at any given time on the 
CW/digital portions of 160 or 80 at night or on 40 during the day, and 
perhaps twice that number on 40 at night.  Likewise, I often call CQ at 
times when the bands are open and get no responses.

A major reason that the K3 and KX3 are so good is that the demands of 
contesters drove much of the design!

73, Jim K9YC