[GreenKeys] Not exactly the amateur spirit

[Gregory W. Moore]

GA, Sam es the rest of the fellow Greenkeyers..

This particular problem seems to be an ongoing one, and is only getting 
worse, given the plethora of digital modes now being used.  Being a person
who loves both CW, RATT, and other digital modes, since I am forced to 
use same with MARS, I really have no problem with listening to contesting.

However, I do have a few comments re: consesting, no matter what mode, 
that have always bothered me for the many years I have spent both as
a ham and also as a professional radio op.   First off, NOBODY owns a 
particular frequency, sorry,. but the prescribed method has always been
 "listen, then transmit".  The second thing is that the method of 
contest communications completely leaves me cold.   I simply can't 
become interested
in 10 second transmissions and moving on to the next "conquest".  
Pileups are, to me a bunch of vain certificiate collectors hammering to 
get one more
"Rare" DX station, again, in the 10 second transmission, and most of the 
QSO's are rude and kind of meaningless at that.

I always believe, as a former professional, that a true contest, if that 
kind of thing is really the be all and end all of radio (which I don't 
believe it is)
should involve, as radio was meant to be, the exchange of MESSAGE 
TRAFFIC.  I don't care if the mode is CW, AM, SSB, RATT, or any other
digital mode.  Exchanging 10 seconds of info is NOT, to me a valid 
QSO.....proving that one has the ability to move message traffic is a 
far more higher
aspiration than what I hear during a contest, especially when persons 
not particpating in the contest seem to be ostracized from  using the 
band(s) in
use, lest they incur the ire of the 15 second wonderkind.......

If contests were to be valid, then a valid QSO should involve the 
transmission and reception of message traffic, even a standardized text, 
and the
acknowlegment of same from the receiving station.  To make it more 
interesting, a reply message should be sent as well.  At least that 
proves that
one can keep one's gear on freq, and one's equipment up, in sync, not 
garbling, for a certain period of time.

Being a member of NAVMARCORMARS, I spend the majority of my air time on 
military and MARS nets. where the mission of staying ready to
maintain comms (read message traffic) is paramount.  Yes, we experiment 
with the latest cutting edge methods of communication, but we still have the
ability to use the standard methods, with the sad exception of CW, of 
which I will say no more, except to say that when the powers that be decided
that CW was no longer a necessary method to employ, it was a sad day 
indeed, and one day, there will be crying and gnashing of teeth over 
said decision.

I have no problem with contests, I do however, have problems with 
dingbats who feel that "they" own bands, annd their 10 seconds of 
transmission is
more important than anything else.  I would much rather be passing 
traffic than spending stupid seconds transmitting standardized canned 
information.

We have lost the whole idea of Amateur radio, especially when the 
"contests" are completely run by computer, and the operator is not in 
the loop at
all..

This of course is IMHO, your mileage may vary, and yes, I am a dinosaur, 
and very proud of it.....

de Greg "GW" Moore WA3IVX/ NNN0BVN

Sam Hallas wrote:

> One of the BARTG committee received this e-mail after the RTTY 
> contest. I'm sure he won't mind me re-posting it.
>
> Is this guy known for being offensive?
>
> Cheers,
> Sam
> G8EXV
>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* EDWARD OLHEISER [mailto:cwop at comcast.net]
>> *Sent:* 20 March 2006 00:37
>> *To:* [deleted for privacy]
>> *Cc:* Olheiser Chip
>> *Subject:* Lid!
>>
>> Contest:
>> As usual you guys jammed all the CW bands for the weekend.  You idiot 
>> lids!  Take your damn contest and jam it when the sun don’t shine.
>> You guys wipe out the HF bands every few weeks and ruin it for all of 
>> us.  Maybe I can jam your favorite operating weekends with needless 
>> crap.
>> Wouldn’t be so bad but you take what seems like every weekend with 
>> this shit.
>> Chip W7AIT
>> 10-4 good buddy!
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
>
>


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