Ham Radio Contests....opinions....

[WX2MIG]

As I slowly make my way back into HAM radio, I can't help to think back to the late 80's when I was an active Code Tech on the 10 meter band. In those days...(bottom of a solar cycle)....good days on 10 meters were few and far between, but I'd catch a couple here and there.
The part I recall not liking a whole lot was catching a good day with lot's of prime Dx possibilities, and being chased off one frequency after another because there was an on going contest, and if you weren't involved in the contest.....well no one wanted to talk to you, and they didn't want you trying up "their" frequency, or entire band with rag chew.

Because of this I always had a strong dislike of contests. I know they are a popular part of amateur radio, but I think the importance of them has gone too far, and the HAM's involved are far too ignorant to those who don't care to participate....

I'm interested in hearing what other HAM's think of this subject......

 

[hookedon6]

you're "5-9, FL"

i couldn't agree more. most contestors behave like CB'ers on the "superbowl":thumbdown::thumbdown:

 

[Wire Weasel]

Hi Tony,

I agree with most your views. How about adding another choice to your poll? I believe you can edit one in.

Something like, Contests need added restrictions ect...

There are too many contests. Practically every weekend there is one or contests cloggerating the HF bands and making rag chewing/DX'ing much more difficult.

I realize that obviously many hams enjoy it, elsewise there wouldn't be contests, but for the life of me I get precious little out of them. A quick impersonal exchange and then off to the next one. All so you can possibly see your name printed in a magazine or get another piece of paper to stick on your wall or in a book.

I would be in favor of seeing all contests limited to one weekend a month. And possibly even some additional restrictions.

 

[WX2MIG]

Wire Weasel that's a very good idea, restricting contests to 1 per month would be a step in the right direction, and limit them to one band or another so there isn't one being conducted on every frequency of the amateur spectrum.....

Compition is fine in a sport or activity designed for compition, but I believe amateur radio was never designed or intended to be competitive, and contests suck the soul out of the hobby. There are so many other aspects to amateur radio to enjoy without the hard line arrogance, and ignorance associated with high pressure contests. I also believe the ARRL is at the root of the problem, and one of the reasons I will not be rejoining that organization this time around.

 

[N9RZD]

As I slowly make my way back into HAM radio, I can't help to think back to the late 80's when I was an active Code Tech on the 10 meter band. In those days...(bottom of a solar cycle)....good days on 10 meters were few and far between, but I'd catch a couple here and there.
The part I recall not liking a whole lot was catching a good day with lot's of prime Dx possibilities, and being chased off one frequency after another because there was an on going contest, and if you weren't involved in the contest.....well no one wanted to talk to you, and they didn't want you trying up "their" frequency, or entire band with rag chew.

Because of this I always had a strong dislike of contests. I know they are a popular part of amateur radio, but I think the importance of them has gone too far, and the HAM's involved are far too ignorant to those who don't care to participate....

I'm interested in hearing what other HAM's think of this subject......

Contests are part of the hobby , and as long as the Arrl exists , they arent going to go away ,
this is an ongoing topic of discussion on several radio boards ,
there are several ways to deal with it,
!. Give the big Knob a spin
2. turn the damn thing off and go do something else
3. get a license and and a rig capable of working the Warc Bands
(no contesting on 12, 15, 17, 30 and 60 mtrs )

personally i dont do contests.i dont understand the mentality
but i dont hold it against someone who wants to stay up all night
and get a gazillion contacts , without even exchanging basic info like first names, etc .

when i get the urge to work the rig during contests , you'll
find me on 17 or 15 meters ;-)

73

 

[SR385]

Contests need to be contained at least to a single band so they aren't occupying all the viable bands at once.

Contests need to be coordinated and cut way back so they aren't on almost every consecutive weekend.

Contesters need to stop operating like a bunch of 9yr old lids and have some common courtesy.

Contesters need to learn how to work their equipment. Maybe use a radio more frequently so they understand ALC and how to properly load up an amplifier so they aren't 1.8kHz wide but splattering 12 in either direction because of running AKTR with no loading on their amps.

Contests I don't have a problem with...I find no use for them, but there are many aspects to the hobby. To each his own.

It's contesters that I have most of the issue with. They are mostly non-hams, no interest in actually communicating, rarely on the bands if there isn't a contest and have the extreme arrogance to think all the regular ham ops will just get out of their way when they intrude.

The ARRL is littered with them unfortunately and the only solution for the rest of us is the arms race of running QRO any time there is a contest to try and stake out a piece of the band for actual conversation.

75m shouldn't even be open to SSB phone contesting. The whole band is used by hams who actually like to communicate with each other and contesting has no place there.

The biggest shame of contesting is, it is almost uncanny that whenever I try to show someone what my equipment is for, there is a contest. I would never give anyone an introduction to ham radio during a contest. It's the lowest common denominator of social misfits ever assembled and would scare most people away from the hobby.

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to show people what ham radio is about only to find a contest and have to just shut it down with an apologetic explanation that the bands are being jammed by these morons.

 

[SR385]

Oh and one last bit. When you find yourself being QRMed by contesters....start giving out fake sequence numbers. Give the same sequence number over and over again. "Your're 5/9 number twenty seven, two seven, two seven." Do that over and over, by about number 12 you will finally run them away.

The other fun thing to do is be insistent you find out something about the other op. "Oh wow I'm 5/9 into Montana, then we must have good propagation. I never get to talk to anyone in Montana, I'm glad I found you. What part of Montana are you in, my favorite town is Missoula. I like dogs and cats...the weather here is..." Tie them up before you give a report. This will generally run them off too. They are pretty fearful of any actual interaction afterall.

 

[N9RZD]

Oh and one last bit. When you find yourself being QRMed by contesters....start giving out fake sequence numbers. Give the same sequence number over and over again. "Your're 5/9 number twenty seven, two seven, two seven." Do that over and over, by about number 12 you will finally run them away.

The other fun thing to do is be insistent you find out something about the other op. "Oh wow I'm 5/9 into Montana, then we must have good propagation. I never get to talk to anyone in Montana, I'm glad I found you. What part of Montana are you in, my favorite town is Missoula. I like dogs and cats...the weather here is..." Tie them up before you give a report. This will generally run them off too. They are pretty fearful of any actual interaction afterall.

LOL , Nice strategy , i'll have to try that

 

[Moleculo]

hehe...that last one is funny. I don't do the contests and find them annoying. I don't have a problem if people want to have contests, though. I do wish that they would limit themselves to only a portion of each band that they operate on so that the non-contesters can have some operating space also. That seems like a reasonable alternative to me.

 

[WX2MIG]

Contests are part of the hobby , and as long as the Arrl exists , they arent going to go away ,
this is an ongoing topic of discussion on several radio boards ,
there are several ways to deal with it,
!. Give the big Knob a spin
2. turn the damn thing off and go do something else
3. get a license and and a rig capable of working the Warc Bands
(no contesting on 12, 15, 17, 30 and 60 mtrs )

personally i dont do contests.i dont understand the mentality
but i dont hold it against someone who wants to stay up all night
and get a gazillion contacts , without even exchanging basic info like first names, etc .

when i get the urge to work the rig during contests , you'll
find me on 17 or 15 meters ;-)

73

N9RZD....

In all due respect to you and your opinions, I'd like to ask you this....

Why should I or any other HAM have to "turn the damn thing off", why can't these ignorant contesters respect our rights as HAMs and allow us some bandwith to operate on outside of their contest.....?

Why should I or any other HAM have to purchase more equipment beyond a standard HF rig, and get an additional license to work the WARC bands, when we have already earned the privilege to work the standard amateur bands. Considering that most people work a job (or two) and the weekends are the only time they have to really enjoy communicating via the amateur bands, and that's when all these contests are being ran....

To put it in another perspective....
I'm also a avid surfer, and I dislike surfing contests for the same reason I dislike radio contests...."it sucks the soul out of the hobby".....
Many surfing contests are held every year in my area, but when they have them, they are contained to just one beach, and there are many other beaches where I can go to surf. If surfing contest were ran like these radio contests, they would have an event at every available beach with a wave to ride.
I wouldn't mind radio contests if they would just contain them to a narrow piece of each band, but they normally hog every little piece of available frequency space allotted us. Is that really fair to the rest of the HAMs....?

 

[N9RZD]

N9RZD....

In all due respect to you and your opinions, I'd like to ask you this....

Why should I or any other HAM have to "turn the damn thing off", why can't these ignorant contesters respect our rights as HAMs and allow us some bandwith to operate on outside of their contest.....?

Why should I or any other HAM have to purchase more equipment beyond a standard HF rig, and get an additional license to work the WARC bands, when we have already earned the privilege to work the standard amateur bands. Considering that most people work a job (or two) and the weekends are the only time they have to really enjoy communicating via the amateur bands, and that's when all these contests are being ran....

To put it in another perspective....
I'm also a avid surfer, and I dislike surfing contests for the same reason I dislike radio contests...."it sucks the soul out of the hobby".....
Many surfing contests are held every year in my area, but when they have them, they are contained to just one beach, and there are many other beaches where I can go to surf. If surfing contest were ran like these radio contests, they would have an event at every available beach with a wave to ride.
I wouldn't mind radio contests if they would just contain them to a narrow piece of each band, but they normally hog every little piece of available frequency space allotted us. Is that really fair to the rest of the HAMs....?

you asked for my opinion, now your gonna slam me for it?
you asked what i do, i "turn the damn thing off, and go do something else "
like play guitar , or fix a computer

Don't ask for my opinion , then take issue with it , ok ?
otherwise i'll have some more choice things to say
now im wishing i hadnt participated at all :headbang

 

[SR385]

Btw, the WARC bands are plain old HF bands open to any ham. They refer to 12m 17m for phone.

The old saw from contesters is "We can't use the WARC bands so go there" Meanwhile good luck finding anyone on 17m at 10pm at the bottom of a sun cycle heh. Contesters are so full of **it it's not even funny. They operate so infrequently they don't even understand how propagation works.

 

[N9RZD]

Btw, the WARC bands are plain old HF bands open to any ham. They refer to 12m 17m for phone.

The old saw from contesters is "We can't use the WARC bands so go there" Meanwhile good luck finding anyone on 17m at 10pm at the bottom of a sun cycle heh. Contesters are so full of **it it's not even funny. They operate so infrequently they don't even understand how propagation works.

just got a qsl card from v73px, a dxpediton station on kwajalein atoll
near the marshall islands thats the south pacific to the uninitiated
i worked them on april thirteenth this year on 17 mtrs ssb phone
if recall correctly i went to 18.130 after running into contesters on 20mtrs
ive also worked hawaii and guam this year on 17 mtrs
all at the bottom of a solar cycle
there is more going on,on 17 than you might think !

 

[N9RZD]

Btw, the WARC bands are plain old HF bands open to any ham. They refer to 12m 17m for phone.

The old saw from contesters is "We can't use the WARC bands so go there" Meanwhile good luck finding anyone on 17m at 10pm at the bottom of a sun cycle heh. Contesters are so full of **it it's not even funny. They operate so infrequently they don't even understand how propagation works.

BTW ,sr385 , n2ith is a tech plus . very limited hf privileges
cw only on 80,40,and 15 mtrs, 200watts pep max,
and all privileges on ten mtrs below 28.500 ,200 watts pep max

i can understand why he's complaining about contesters
but its not like he can operate on most of the frequencies anyway

just my 2 cents

 

[WX2MIG]

you asked for my opinion, now your gonna slam me for it?
you asked what i do, i "turn the damn thing off, and go do something else "
like play guitar , or fix a computer

Don't ask for my opinion , then take issue with it , ok ?
otherwise i'll have some more choice things to say
now im wishing i hadnt participated at all :headbang

Wasn't slamming you sir, I did say "In all due respect to you and your opinion" did I not.....?
I was simply conducting a friendly debate on the subject, no different than if we were sitting around the kitchen table, sipping a cold beverage, and discussing our differences of opinion about this.

You stated what it is that you do, and that works for you, I'm good with that. However what works for you obviously doesn't work for me, or perhaps others who feel the same as I, and that was the point I was trying to make.
No bashing intended.....