[PaQSO] QSO Improvement Ideas

Sat, 9 Nov 2002 21:37:22 +0000

I agree with Stan, particularly about the time off. I kept going after
midnight in the VA QP until I realized I had been through 5 counties
(nearly 3 hours) without a contact and could hardly see the road for the
fog; decided then to wait for sunrise like everyone else. In addition, a
mobile is probably not safe after too many hours on the road.  The
Florida QP quits for the night at sunset...well, not quite, they shut
down Saturday night of 0159Z and start up again at 1200Z on Sunday. I can
understand the 80/160m stations wanting to go a bit later, but I wonder
whether even they make enough contacts in the wee hours to make staying
awake all night worthwhile.

73,
BOB/k4mut

On Thu, 07 Nov 2002 23:03:35 +0000 Stan Reas <[email protected]> writes:
> At 10:17 11/7/02 -0800, you wrote:
> >I just have a few comments on what I'd like to see for
> >what their worth:
> >
> >1.EXTENDED OPERATING TIMES PERMITTED.  The days of a
> >M-F 8-5 job for 30 years are long gone.  Today you
> >pretty much need to be a slave to your job.  If the
> >contest ran continuously it would help people who work
> >odd shifts, were on-call, etc.  In the past when I was
> >in college I routinely got home around 12 AM.  I was
> >able to get into the ARRL contests for several hours
> >since they are nonstop.  Times have changed, it's time
> >we update ourselves.
> 
> One of the reasons I enjoy the PA QSO Party is that there is a 
> "rest" period
> during which we can all catch a good night's sleep.
> 
> The VA QSO Party is non-stop like the ARRL contests.  But VERY 
> little goes on
> between midnight and 7 AM!
> 
> >2.MANDATORY STAYS FOR MOBILES/ROVERS.  I think that if
> >you go to operate a county you should have to stay
> >there for a minimum of 2 hours.  My group saw very
> >little mobile activity in the log.
> 
> I suspect you have not operated mobile in a QSO Party.  When I enter 
> a new 
> county
> I attempt to work the stations who are CQ'ing.  But it is 
> frustrating to 
> have to stand in line
> to work them.  If I don't get them in a couple calls, I give up and 
> try 
> another one.  The I try
> to find a relatively "quiet" frequency and call CQ.
> 
> When I no longer get any answers to my CQ's I change bands and go 
> through 
> the same routine.
> Then I move on into another county.
> 
> When operating mobile it becomes VERY obvious that many of you folks 
> need 
> to turn up the
> gain on your rig to hear the mobiles.  And there are those mobilers 
> among 
> us who do not bother
> trying to work SSB.  It's too tough to fight the powerhouse SSB 
> stations.
> 
> So, if you don't listen for the CW-only mobiles you may miss out on a 
> 
> "rare" county.
> 
> >This would help to pass out the rare counties.  If you make 10 
> contacts
> >and go, what good does that do?  This has happened to
> >me numerous times.  I get the, "Oh, I was just there."
> 
> In my case I made 701 contacts in 27 counties.  That's an average of 
> 26 
> contacts per
> county.  I admit to making only 11 contacts in some counties, but 
> that was 
> in the "un-rare"
> counties.
> 
> >  Make mobiles spin the knob and throw a few calls out
> >to work people.  Better to work a handful of counties
> >well than do half a job on 20 counties, right?
> 
> Well, I think "CQ de K4UK / M / PER" is a bona fide attempt to work 
> 
> people.  Forty-one folks
> did work me in Perry.  I hardly consider that half a job!
> 
> >Also, if you go mobile, please practice ethics.  It is
> >possible for you to make your 10 contacts by only
> >working the special event station and club members.
> >This goes against the spirit of amateur radio and is
> >called "captive roving."  It happens a lot on VHF.  A
> >guy is S9, but he won't work you, very frustrating.
> 
> No argument from me on this point.  I dislike all pre-arranged 
> QSO's.
> And also I don't agree with Packet assistance either.
> 
> I'm sure I could materially increase my score by running VHF in 
> each
> of the counties, so I can work the county I'm in.  Very seldom 
> would
> I work the county I was operating from.  And since for my aggregate
> mobile score I only had 50 counties, it is very apparant mobiles 
> are
> at a disadvantage in getting the county multipliers.
> 
> >3.ELIMINATION OF THE SPECIAL EVENT STATION.  This
> >currently gives an unfair advantage to the group who
> >has it.  If they did not have it perhaps they wouldn't
> >do a multi, people seek it out which boosts the SES
> >score, and it is possible to work it all the way up to
> >light if you are close enough and get schedules(giving
> >locals an unfair advantage.)  If we must still have
> >it, it should be operated by NARC or an independent
> >group, and it should only be allowed in RARE counties.
> >  The county can change each time, perhaps.  This would
> >be fair.
> 
> Since the Special Event Station isn't competing against any one,
> I disagree.  I worked W3FRC from only 5 counties I operated in.
> 
> I have voiced my concern that W3FRC was called often on CW by LOTS
> of stations, and would not respond to any of them.  Particularly
> frustrating to all of us to have them hit the "CQ" button again 
> after
> only a few second "listening" time.
> 
> >4.A 2M FM ACTIVITY HOUR.  I think that we only need
> >activity hours for 160 and 2m, we can go overboard
> >with them.  I propose 2m FM at 4PM Sunday.  Several
> >stations can share a frequency or if it is light just
> >call CQ yourself.  This would be towards the end of
> >the test and help out a lot by coordinating operating
> >times.  Usage of the 146 area frequencies would be
> >best(146.49, 52, 55, 58, etc.)  There are others, but
> >these are the most common.
> 
> Don't run either 160 or 2 Meters from my mobile, so no comment.
> 
> >5.ELIMINATION OF THE SERIAL NUMBER.  This causes chaos
> >if you run multi-multi.  It would be easier to process
> >the logs and you could then network computers together
> >as happens in other contests.  The call and county is
> >an OK exchange.
> 
> Keep the Serial Number as part of the exchange.  The trend to the
> "meaningless" 599 signal report in place of the serial number is in 
> my
> opinion the wrong way to go.  Without a serial number, you will 
> have
> listen to a full exchange to see if the mobile is in a new county.  
> Surely
> the multi-multi stations can figure out a way to make this 
> "painless" -
> like assigning blocks of serial numbers to each band or mode.
> 
> 
> >6.PLEASE SPIN THE KNOB.  Many stations only call CQ.
> >That is fine, but every so often you should dial
> >around.  We missed a station we needed.  It was our
> >fault for not dialing around, but the other ops didn't
> >either to find us.
> 
> Amen, brother.  You can't expect the other guys to do all the
> "Search & Pounce" activity.  And if you don't tune for that mobile
> you will in all probabilty miss a "rare" county.
> 
> >These are just a few ideas.  Feel free to bitterly
> >oppose them.  We have the best QSO Party in the
> >country, I just feel that these items would improve
> >it.  I've opened the floodgates here, let the comments
> >commence.  Thanks for reading.
> >
> >Jim, N3PBH
> 
> I trust you will not consider these comments of mine as "bitter"
> opposition to your suggestions.  But I couldn't let them go 
> unanswered.
> 
> The Good Lord Willing and the Creeks Don't Rise, I'll back again 
> next
> year.  The PA QSO Party is the best one I operate in.
> 
> Please have better weather though - Hi!
> 
> 73, Stan - K4UK
> 
> P.S. Virginia does attempt to promote working mobiles by having each 
> 
> contact with
> a mobile worth 3 points.  CW contacts are worth 2 points and Phone 
> contacts 
> are
> worth 1 point.
> 
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> 
> 

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