The wonderful thing about our hobby is there are so many different paths to
take
and still be a ham. I once knew a ham in SC that only got his license so he
could fly large scale RC aircraft on 6 meters but he was still a ham and still
in the hobby, although he never picked up a mic or pounded a key, or touched a
keyboard. Many hams call the digital modes we all love here, "noise". Over a
year ago , when I started a VHF/UHF digital MT-200 2KL digital net to train
ARES/RACES ops, a lot of folks thought we should have been shot for putting
that
noise on the repeaters even though we announced what we we doing several times
during the net.
Over my last 21 years of being a ham, I have tried lots of facets of the hobby
and enjoyed them all to some degree including contesting. Contesting is a great
way for general, and sometines tech. class operators to work DX that usually
stays in the extra portion of the bands. I personally don't care for CW, but
if that is some other ops favorite mode...to each their own.
Field day is in its self, is a contest. I can think that nothing can compare to
public awareness and possibility of recruiting of new ops like Field Day.
This
year, our club held a VE exam during Field Day. Isn't Field Day where you sling
wire into tress, in a EMCOMM setting to boot. There is no better training
situation than field day for hams.
While I was in the USAF, I spent a year in South Korea in 92-93. Skip is right
about hams where English is a second language, being reluctant to carry on long
QSOs. Their fear embarrassment is in poor English skills. My year in Korea was
the greatest ham radio opportunity of my life. Aside from working 100's of
phone
patches for the guys on base, I worked a ton of DX. The local hams invited us
to their homes, took us on outings, and we invited the to our Airbase and
cooked
burgers and dogs for them. The were gracious, courteous ops that very much
wanted to learn more English, but it takes a patient slow English speaking
operator to encourage them to have more than a signal report QSO.
Enjoy the part of ham radio you love but be courteous to other ops and the
facet
of the hobby they love. I know the big contests can dominate the bands, but
how
are contesters possibly supposed to know the huge number of nets, scheds etc..
on any band? Usually, most contests exclude the WARC bands, so they are quiet
for long QSO's.
73 de Mike
N7NMS
________________________________
From: Dan Hensley <kc9...@att.net>
To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, July 10, 2010 10:02:09 AM
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] VHF Contesting
Amateur radio is not for contesting. Amateur radio is not a sport, it is for
communications. ..meaningful communications. Exchanging signal reports and
series numbers or such other drivel is not what amateur radio was intended for.
We need to start getting back to RADIO and COMMUNICATIONS, which when you put
them together gives us the concept of actually using radio to communicate with
each other, You contesters want to do this stupid garbage on the radio, then
you
need to petition the FCC for contest radio spectrum for which a special license
would be issued.
Then, you can exchange all of your meaningless non-communications related
garbage to your heart's content. You contesters are making us all look bad. How
about some of you actually getting outside and exercising while using radio the
correct way? Go hang a wire through some trees and actually have something
called a conversation. Take your HT with you on a walk and actually get to know
your fellow local hams, attract others to amateur radio while showing them that
we actually know how to have conversations.
I know that the concept of actually having a conversation with people is hard
for most of you to wrap your mind around, but you should really try it! It
works! You can actually make a few more friends! A conversation happens when
two
people actually spend time together in a social manner while one person talks
and the other listens, then the one who was listening responds with meaningful
replies on an actual topic based on everyday reality.
Friendships happen when two people actually connect. You gotta have human
connection man! Yes, there are actually people out in the world who would like
to know you if you just think about more than contesting and actually use some
social skills. It works just fine when you try!
Let's put the communications back into radio, and goodwill back into the
amateur
meaning of amateur radio, and bring back a focus on elmering so new hams can
actually learn a technical skill instead of just having books shoved in their
faces without any incentive to learn.
--- On Sat, 7/10/10, KH6TY <kh...@comcast. net> wrote:
>From: KH6TY <kh...@comcast. net>
>Subject: Re: [digitalradio] VHF Contesting
>To: digitalradio@ yahoogroups. com
>Date: Saturday, July 10, 2010, 1:16 PM
>
>
>
>Greg,
>
>PSK31 is a very narrow signal and unless every transceiver has a TCXO, the
>drift
>may be too much for the AFC to follow. PSK31 is also very subject to Doppler
>distortino. In South Caronina, we use DominoEx 8 or DominoEx4 for 2m, but
>Olivia
>or Contestia works even better with the mulitpath and Doppler disturbances
>you
>often encounter. Contestia 64/1000 has proven to be the very best digital mode
>for UHF and VHF weak signsl and I run a daily schedule using that mode on 432.
>
>The problem is that probably nobody else is on any of the digital modes on 2m
>to
>talk to, but you could arrange some skeds. I suggest you use Contestia 64/1000
>for the best results. Unfortunately, only fldigi currently supports Contestia
>64/1000, so instead, try Contestia 32/1000 which DM780 and Multipsk both
>support. You will lose 3 dB in S/N, but it will still work pretty well. At
>least
>it will survive the QSB and Doppler disturbances on VHF.
>
>It would be great to see more people using Contestia on 144 and 432 weak
>signal
>work. Contestia will copy down to the noise when SSB is no longer able to be
>understood, and, at 30 wpm, is twice as fast as Olivia. You need at least a
>1000
>Hz signal bandwidth to fight the Doppler disturbances.
>
>73, Skip KH6TY
>
>
>On 7/10/2010 7:38 AM, GregCT wrote:
>
>>Hello and Good morning to all,
>>Just looking for a little advise and guidance here. Next weekend is the CQ WW
>>VHF Contest, I'm looking forward to setting out and playing in the contest
>>and
>>I'm thinking of attempting some digital contacts along with the usual SSB to
>>up
>>the score a bit. I've been having alot of fun with PSK31 mostly on HF with a
>>spattering of other modes mixed in but PSK being the most prevelant. I think
>>I
>>would most likely see some PSK activity on 6m, but don't really know what to
>>expect or look for as far as modes on the 2m side of things. Would someone
>>operate PSK on that band or one of the other modes? I'm running HRD with
>>DM780.
>>
>>My personal best score in the contest was in 2006 when I earned 1st place
>>Rover
>>for the New England Division with 8142 points. Due to work and family
>>commitments, I was not able to enter again until last year, which also earned
>>me
>>1st place New England again. I'm hoping that by adding the weak signal
>>digital
>>modes to the mix that I may "Defend" my title in this year's contest but also
>>beat my personal best score and possible make it into the mix of the
>>competition
>>at the National level. My hopes are high, but i'm not sure if the effort of
>>lugging the laptop along and keeping it powered up will be worth the result..
>>
>>Any thoughts, ideas, comments that can you can send my way are appreciated,
>>both
>>'for' and 'against'... and Thank you in advance for all that have any
>>input/help
>>advice to contribute
>>
>>73
>>Greg
>>N1KPW
>>
>>
