[PaQSO] N3WAV/M-R.I.P.?

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

This is hardly a new problem; it's existed for years.  There are always
going to be some operators who, regardless of the rules or of suggestions in
the rules, think of themselves first & second and the heck with you.  Be it
covering up a weak mobile, clobbering a QRP signal, or not letting anyone
else work that rare county who just showed up on your calling frequency,
it's going to happen.

I'm also waiting for the inevitable complaints from some of the Gud'Ol'Boyz
which we seem to get every year.  I loved the W4 from Georgia this year who
answered my CQ on 75 phone, then informed me that he'd changed his mind,
wasn't going to work me or any other !@#$%^%^! contester, and then turned on
the amp to talk to his buddy down the street.  So what can you do?  I
decided not to waste time on him & play his "lets screw with the contesters"
game -- I just shifted to 80 CW for awhile.

OTOH, I know I made a lot of people happy when a semi-rare county (I'd say
who but I don't recall off the top of my head, and the log is on the shack
computer downstairs) worked me on my frequency on 40 on Saturday.  I had a
hunch others needed him, so I offered him the frequency for 5-10 minutes so
that (a) he could work them, and (b) I could take a short, shall we say,
personal needs break.  10 minutes later, there were a lot of happy
campers -- including me for obvious reasons.  But -- this goes on all the
time during our contest, it's one of the things that makes it fun.  So I
don't expect any special credit.  By the same token, I can name a bunch of
calls (such as N3ZEL, N3MSE, W4ZE, and the 2-girl Erie Tag Team K3LD & KB3B
if memory serves correctly) who did the exact same things, and more, to help
out some of the mobiles and weak signals during the test.  Kudos to them!

What's the answer?  Well, the long & short of it is... there isn't one.
There will always be a dingdong running roughshod over the rest because he
thinks he can.  (We even had rude operator behavior last January in our
club's short little 2M FM contest!  And for what... a certificate I crank
out on my deskjet?)  But short of designating some stations as the "contest
etiquette" police, a job I neither desire nor hope anyone else does, we just
have to grit our teeth and live with it.

73, ron wn3vaw
"Be who you are, say what you think, people that matter don't care, and
people that care don't matter." -- Dr. Seuss


----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Raymer <n3xls@juno.com>
To: <paqso@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 3:14 AM
Subject: Re: [PaQSO] N3WAV/M-R.I.P.?


Hi all,

I do need to get on my soapbox even though I promised myself that I would
hold off and not complain about this issue at least for another few more
weeks. However, since someone brought it up already I guess I'm OK. Well
last year for the K3CSG Bonus station and now this year we always have
this problem of not being heard when calling out on a frequency. Well
this year it final hit us what the problem is and that is it's the
stations running QRO. Which totally cover you up. I don't know what can
be done to fix this problem but it should be reviewed and discussed
because there clearly isn't a fair opportunity for everyone in the
contest. I don't think eliminating the QRO division is the answer either.
The other thing people don't follow the suggested PAQSO band plan, which
I think is unfair to most of the mobiles out there because they have a
designated calling freq minus 5 Khz down from the suggested frequencies
but someone is QRO on it or +/- 5Khz form the frequency. Of course all
these frequencies are suggested only but I think its better if some
people formulate some ideas of what can change to make the people that
can't afford or can't use an amplifier during the contest. I myself like
to see a suggested band plan for QRP, Medium and QRO stations for the
party this way everyone has a more fare advantage to working everyone.



On Wed, 16 Oct 2002 18:30:05 EDT N3WAV@aol.com writes:
> Hello All,
>        Well, I made my attempt to make it to all 33 WPA counties in
> the
> mobile.
>        I was doing pretty well, despite the fact that it took 1 hour
> to get
> my 10 QSO's in FAY because no one could hear me over the
> 7,000,000Mwatt
> stations.
>        I got to ERI and sat at the Advanced Auto Parts in Corry.
> The QRM
> from the 7,000,000Gwatt stations and the foreign broadcast was so
> bad that no
> one could hear me.  I switched to 20m.  Did not hear anyone so I
> called and
> called on 14.275, the listed mobile window, and got no replies.
> Switched to
> 75 meters and no one could hear me (this was at 7:00 PM).  I was in
> ERI for
> 1.5 hours.  Moved to Warren.  Also took 1 hour to make 10 contacts
> on 80, and
> each one was a struggle.  Moved to McKean.  Again it took 1.5 hours
> to make
> my 10 contacts.  I sat in front of a business, promted the Police to
> stop and
> talk to me and ask what I was doing and why I was there for so long.
>  I
> explained Amateur Radio to him and how the contest worked and he was
> very
> interested and did not give me a hard time.
>        Then I moved to ELK.  I made 1 contact in 30 minutes so at
> 11:00 I
> decided that I would go St. Marys and get a room and go to sleep.
> No rooms
> anywhere in St. Marys.  Drove to Emporium.  No rooms in Emporium.
> Drove to
> Renovo.  No rooms in Renovo.  It is now 1:30 in the A of M.  All of
> the
> 7,000,000,000Gwatt stations are in bed, warmed by their amps.  Drove
> to Lock
> Haven.  No rooms in Lock Haven.  Drove to Lamar.  No rooms in Lamar.
>  It is
> now after 2:00 AM.  I decided that since I missed activating ELK,
> POT, CLE,
> and CRN because no one could hear me, that I would sleep in the
> Durango in
> the parking lot of the Comfort Inn in Lamar so that I could give out
> CLI in
> the morning.  No bed, no shower in AM, no chance to change clothes.
> But
> people wanted CLI so I sacrificed for them.
>        The next day worked out better and I was even able to give
> out CLE by
> altering the route slightly (Unfortunately I forgot FRA).
>        After all the driving (780 miles), after all of the near
> misses while
> trying to paper log while driving, after being stopped by the
> police, after
> sleeping in the car (my chiropractor Sam, KE3PO, calls that job
> security),
> after driving and logging in the rain and fog, after all the people
>
> tailgating me, after my foot switch not working so that I had to use
> my hand
> mike the entire time, I was thinking that maybe this was for the
> birds.
>        Well, then I figured that maybe I should get a good night's
> sleep in a
> real bed and then maybe I would feel better.  I got up this morning,
> had a
> good day at work and was feeling great when I came home.  I had
> dinner and
> started thinking about next year.  How could I help everyone get
> those needed
> counties?  The hassles of Saturday seemed to have disappeared.
>        Then I checked my email.  There must have been 30 or 40 PSQSO
> emails.
> I sat down to read them and collect the thank you's.  Well, the
> hassles of
> Saturday seemed to instantly reappear as I read thank you's to just
> about
> every other mobile but me.  Now, mind you, I did not go mobile for
> the thank
> you's or any kind of glory.  I just wanted to help folks get hard to
> get
> counties. But little pat on the pack would have been nice.  One good
> thing,
> it helped me make up my mind about ever again driving 780 miles as a
> favor
> the Party.
>        Did I miss working a lot of counties?  Of course.  Because
> when I
> tried to get a rare county the 7,000,000,000,000Gwatt stations said
> "NO! TO
> THE MOBILE."
>        My favorite quote of the contest:  "The mobile stand by, the
> other
> station go."  Shouldn't it be the other way around?  Get the weak
> signal
> first?  Get the mobile first so that he can move to another county?
> Only one
> station, W4ZE, took me first over the other stations.
>        So good luck next year getting those rare counties.  I think
> I will
> just stay at home and give out my rare county-WES.
>        73, de Bob, N3WAV / no longer M
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