No, I hate contests, they're monotonous box ticking exercises but each to their own I guess? My idea of fun is to go on 17 when there's a big contest on and run a special activation listening up to 25 kHz up... or down.
totally agree.... contesting really hones one's skills, interfaces with your logging and the entire path from your microphone/headset out to the antenna(s) AND everything in between.
My first ever contact was in a contest. I passed my Tech in the morning and drove right to our club. There was a contest going on so I sat down and operated (with an Extra as station control). All my contesting has made me better at net control, emcomm, SOTA, POTA, etc.
I hate tests. Is it a weekend and I sit down to work some radio. Turn on the radio and what do you hear? CQ contest cq contest! It's like I wants to throw up. 73 de SM/IZJ
Excellent . You learn what band to be on at what time of the day and Sunspot cycle etc etc and lowering your power makes you a far better operator now 81 and I am loving it even more CW or SSB thank you
Key to contests is inclusivity. If everyone is on a level playing field like CQWW then all good. The contests which I don’t like are the ones where ops are only interested in working certain countries for the big points, like the SP or OK contests. Otherwise, contests bring the higher bands to life, allow you to work new countries and really test out your antenna system. It’s only where some contests favour a particular country to chase that it then effectively shuts the gate on many joining in.
I will never do a contest but I occasionally reply to contest stations when I think I can get through. Especially good for testing out new antenna configurations with my long wires with un uns . M7BLC.
Problem with this is serial numbers. How do we give contacts away to folk without having to give a valid number? Should we just iterate like everyone else, but just not submit a log?
I can see how contesting improves your operational chops, but as an activity in itself, have never understood the attraction of it. It's one of the reasons why I lost interest in transmitting early on in my amateur radio career.
I've never been very interested in them myself, but each to his own. I do have a strong dislike for contest guys who feel like the contest gives them the right to operate wherever they feel like it. I've had a nice PSK31 rag chew blown by CW ops during a contest on more than one occasion. I've had a contester blast right into a SSB QSO I was in and when we asked him to move he told us it's a contest and we need to go to another band. So there's that. I caved. If there's a contest, I'll just hope that 30, 17, or 12 meters is open and if not, I'll find something else to do.
I was pretty much turned off contests right at the beginning of my amateur radio days in a local contest where I was effectively being hunted by contesters even though I had stated I was not a contest station, I got the “c’mon give us some numbers” routine. Needless to say I was not impressed by the “your on air so you’re fair game” attitude. This view was reinforced when a number of years ago I participated in the international lighthouse weekend which because of vagaries of the amateur radio calendar in Australia was on the same weekend as the remembrance day contest. RD contesters were “tail ending” ILW contacts and then “claiming” the frequency as their own. All this wasn’t helped by myself finding contests incredibly boring when I started listening to amateur activity prior to being licensed. Yes I believe there is room for all and I am friendly with some of the people who chased me for points, and I do believe in to each their own but sometimes the competitive spirit spills over in inappropriate ways. Rant over and cheers everyone. John VK3YO.
Same story. My former club invited me for a contest and I hated the format. It is always 59 and then some numbers or letters after, no log at all and completely useless. About the "fair game" of the frequency "okupas", that is not what ham radio is about. Doing unethical things for a piece of paper.
I like the frenetic RSGB 80 m SSB club contests. 90 minutes of constant activity is about as much as I can take. I'm not competitive so I won't resort to online spotting or "assisted modes" or click-on-screen tuning or any of that mullarkey. My scores will never be huge, but they accumulate for our club. A good test of rig, aerial and operating skills.
Like all hobbies, many niches to get into, and Contesting has never interested me, I got into HAM radio 4 years ago at age 57, hold a General License and spend little time on the air. For me I like to learn about and tinker with vintage ham and no ham radio gear, that use IC electronics and tubes. That is my niche in this vast hobby. Ham radio has something for everyone interested in radio,electronics, communications,etc. a Great Hobby.
I didnt do contests at all, it was a chore I could never make contact with anyone or completely piled over all the time. I got a amplifier, and then it became extremely fun, it also taught me a lot about my setup, better operating principles, tuning my ear to get out the most distant DX and so much more. and if you dont want to participate, just turn the radio off or move to a different band. Ernest - KN4MYB
Good morning Callum I really enjoy working contest, now I don’t do every one of them, But they’re fun. To do a rag chew with somebody is hard because of the propagation because they can be 59 then next time I barely hear them. I really like working pota because those fellas are out in the hot or cold weather trying to activate a park. And the propagation here in Texas is not very good. But we will keep plugging along. Thank you for the video and I hope you have a great day WD5ENH Steve
Firstly I was dismayed at the contest every weekend, the only time I had to operate and more people would be on as no work. I then realised if you cant beat em join em. So I also found that working DX stations on 10w was much easier than trying for the usual pile up as the DX has sucked the band dry, during contests the DX is all over the band/bands
I certainly can appreciate that. For me however, I like operating under non-contest days when you get whoever you get to come back to you. To me it feels more authentic. You are quite right, about everything you're saying, all I'm saying is that's how I enjoy operating, where I might work the Britt who's driving home after work, while I'm on lunch break, or the Siberian who's having breakfast, while I'm having dinner. Maybe it's more about the type of QSO I get that way because in some ways it's less formal than a contest QSO.
If you want to improve your HF skills, be a Net Controller or a Relay for an HF net. And in case of a real disaster, the net format would be used. And in a net disaster situation, slower CW or PHONE could be a life saver. The OP in the disaster may be using QRP or low power with a temporary antenna. Plus, in the real deal, the NC is the "Air Traffic Controller". Living in H-TOWN, hurricanes, flooding, and even ice storms come our way. Remember: Speed is Important: Accuracy is Paramount!
I note that following hurricane Katrina numerous emergency ham stations went on the air around the periphery of New Orleans, and they did great work. But as the days wore on more and more of them, most went silent even though there was still great need of their services. They ran out of gasoline for their cars and generators. They weren't truly set up for emergency communications. They were set up for Field Day. They were running 150 Watt radios and hundred Watt light-bulbs from 2 or 3 kW gasoline generators, when they really only needed 5 to 15 Watt radios and a good 3 Watt LED or 2 running off a small battery and a cheap PV panel. An emergency communications system isn't about an expensive, high-power radio and a huge antenna array. It's more about the ability of a communications system to adapt to the situation, to operate, and to continue to operate. Just a reminder for the thoughtful.
I never really liked contest weekends. It feels to me like it's too easy. I like normal conditions when some hams may have the rig on, but aren't trying for every contact they can get.
They're pretty helpful for us low power stations with simple antennas to get immersed in a target rich environment (i.e. getting DX you never hear in 'normal' conditions), and it definitely sharpens your skills on the rig, and your ears.
Not quite into the contesting yet to be honest although I have tried it a few times.. You’re right about how it can improve your operating and also listening skillset though 👌🏻👍🏻.
I've tried contesting a time or two but it's just not for me. Yes the bands get crowded, but they're not going anywhere so complaining isn't going to help. I've become a better operator doing my usual thing (chasing various OTA stations) during contests as you really have to use eveything you got to pick out non-contest stations in between all the loud contesters and I know my skills improved as a result of operating in those crowded situations. Sometimes I come across a lonely contester calling CQ with no takers and I'll give them a contact so they know they're getting out and can get some points on the board. It can also be a good way to collect some DX you might not normally hear.
This is something I thought about a lot. No contests for me. I've never wanted to talk to people on the air. I just talk to them when I need to. I prefer to design, build, experiment. I spent 2 years doing longwave BPSK beacon experiments. I didn't even have a ham license at the time. Had no interest in getting one. Adding a call-sign to my beacon message wasn't even worth the bother since I was the only one monitoring it or who even knew how to receive the signal and decode the message. And once I was consistently blanketing 700 miles in every direction from my home in Colorado I got bored with it and took down my beacon antenna. I was done. I'd figured it out, so it was time to move on to something else. I know a contester with five 200 foot tall antenna towers loaded with phased arrays and hand selected low noise preamps. He lives on top of a mesa nearby and has a multimillion dollar station/s and stacks of 1500W linear amplifiers and automatic tuners. But he had no idea I was even transmitting my 5 mW on 1750 kHz 15 miles away. It wasn't a ham band and there were no contests on it so he ignored the most interesting band on the radio spectrum. And if he did tune it in he probably couldn't hear my beacon. That required a vertically phased antenna with a high Q, tuned preamp. And if he did hear it he probably would have no idea what it was or how to decode it. We were oblivious to one another, which suited me fine, although I found it amusing that for all of the money he has put into the most expensive radio gear this side of NASA he had no idea how to even copy my $100 station that was built with audio op-amps pulled from old consumer electronics, and used weathered PVC pipe to make an antenna loaded down with 2 miles of surplus hook-up wire. That's amateur radio to me, not contests. I think contests and logging QSO's take the fun right out of radio, and repeating, "We have you 5 and 9 in Colorado, 5 and 9. Good luck with the contest," over and over and over for hours on end sounds more like a nightmare than a hobby to me.
@@DXCommanderHQ, that was what I never understood about 'amateur radio'. If a fun band was dirt-cheap and easy to operate on and didn't even require a ham license, why wouldn't hams jump at the opportunity to play around on it? Yet I actually had hams tell me, "I can't operate on those frequencies. That's not a ham band." They said literally those very words. And they said that their QSO's "wouldn't count" because it wasn't a 'ham' band. It's a perfectly legal RF band with almost no restrictions, yet they seemed afraid to even listen on it. Very odd. Very sad. That was when I realized that true 'amateur' radio had stagnated over the years and become entirely consumer' 'ham' radio. I found that very sad. Now, after further decades, there is a fun 'ham' band at 135+ kHz, and it is still ignored, apparently because hams can't buy a variety of prefabricated radios with buttons, knobs, and lights to plug in power, a mic, and an antenna and easily operate on the band. I find that still sadder.
In my experience, contesting brings out the worst in ham operators. Contesters think they can just jump on to any frequency they want and start transmitting without ever asking if the frequency is in use. And, if they are told the frequency is in use, more often than not they just continue calling "CQ Contest" anyway. So, there goes the usual explanation that contesting makes you a better operator. It's the opposite as far as I'm concerned. The other thing I've wondered about is, what is the point of contesting anyway? Is it just so you can see your callsign on a list in some ham radio publication? Just my two cents worth...Ivan VE7IVN
I think anything brings the worst out in about 3% of any population.. We can't use the same brush on 100% of the population because most ops are respectful. The list isn't endless but USA, UK, most of EU stations that I hear move when required and check a freq is clear. However, the two to avoid at end March (CQWPX) and and Sept (CQWW). That is a total Zoo.
@@DXCommanderHQ I'm a small 100W suburban station, and the CQ contests are indeed zoos, for sure. But once you calm down inside the cage (takes a while for me, because it takes the ears a while to adjust to the madness), I have gotten some great long sought after and rare (for me) DX. It's not for everybody, and I can respect that. On the big contests, I can usually cuss under my breath at about 3 annoying operators out of the hundreds I hear.
Great video Cal. A contest is not my most favourite thing, but if nothing else gets things on the log. I do sometimes struggle to work out what contest it is, and what the exchange protocol is ! Mark, 2E0MSR.
Love contesting, do as much as I can when I can. I have done fairly well in some and not so good in others. Still a good bit of fun. I cannot wait for the fall CQ WW CW and SSB contests, I want my 12.4 up by then. I will be on St John, USVI for CQWW SSB... Have my Dxpedition near the saltwater... should be a scream.
I loathe contests. This is a hobby. A relaxation. Work is enough of a contest for me. I don't need to contest to practice radio comms. I'd rather a 15-20 minute rag chew where you can try things with a solid source and get consistent feedback. Rather than a few seconds with a few ops with wildly different signal or noise levels
I look forward to making your acquaintance on a WARC band. A also find contests to be deeply irksome. Wouldn't mind if they were less frequent. But as often as not, they are every, single, solitary weekend, bar none. Frankly, it is one of the factors that has me pack the radio away after a few weeks of the weekends being a total 'no go'.
Yup. I don’t try to be competitive in contests, & usually don’t even submit a log. It just gives me a chance to try a mode or three without the risk that the other op wants to get into a long, drawn out conversation. Make a few contests, make sure I know how all the bits & bobs work, maybe improve my setup’s config parameters for getting better & better at solid decode, etc.
I have 3 answers to your question: 1. No. 2. Hades, No 3. Anathema, No Turns Ladies and Gentlemen into monsters. The antithesis of what a ham should be
@@DXCommanderHQ Anathema is Greek for "One Damns oneself". It is to Damn what Hades is to Hell. A way to cuss cleanly. Antithesis is the opposite of what a person or position is. A Lady/Gentleman is not a monster.
Contests are all about ego and chasing paper. True that I also like to chase some paper, but I also enjoy 3 minute QSOs. I hate the format and I don't do contest or respond to stations doing contests. Is not nice to go to a frequency that is clear 5K above and below, only to be sandwiched between two guys doing contests, or worse, a guy doing a contest right in my frequency. It is a lack of respect and harms the ham radio hobby. If you like to test yourself, the best is to work DX or weak stations. Patience is a virtue, and it is the main skill to be trained when working ham. Unfortunately, many operator lack just that and can't work DX without a 1 KW amplifier.
No, I do not like contests. I'm tired of having to compete everywhere else in my life the last thing I need is to compete in my hobbies too. So someone gets bragging rights? Big frickin deal. It seems that every single week it is some contest or other. That is guaranteed to push people away that just want to use the air waves without getting yelled at by some impatient box ticker.
nope hate contests with a passion. just today im listening to a QRS chat between a mentor op and a fresh new cw op one qrp 10w but 579 to me when out of nowhere not one but two "contester's" fire up both one bang on their frequency the other no more then 80Hz up no preamble no check just boom straight in to an endless chain of cq test blahh there is no way they didn't hear the ongoing qso the same on phone last night im tuning through an hear a chap calling cq he called 3-4 times i was about to respond and boom contest op fires up cq contest blaa blaa straight over the top of the chap who responded with a rant so contest twerp moved ONE kc down and continued constantly calling with an auto talker the entitlement and ignorance of some of these people is utterly astonishing and do no favours for the hobby at all!
Have been thinking of getting into ham radio recently. But from what I’m finding out is it’s just a collecting hobby. Just like train spotting and the old days of CB. I remember as a kid getting a AM CB radio. Then they became illegal and so went over to FM with the reduced distance capability. Every time you called out “Breaker 19 for a copy it was the same old thing. What’s my power look like on the other end and what was their twenty. Zero content or conversation, just onto the next to see how far I could get out, to the point it became boring. Ham radio seems no different, just more costly for equipment. If you wish to contact people, just to see how far you can reach and what clarity and strength of signal your gear puts out what is the purpose of it all. Just go to the mall and speak to people face to face. It serves no purpose to collect these QSL cards. May as well collect stamps.
Yes, stamps were fun too. But I sold mine. Only a tiny proportion of my world is contesting - check my Friday live-streams, I see where I'm getting out.. It's like the "old days" like you say.
No, I hate contests, they're monotonous box ticking exercises but each to their own I guess? My idea of fun is to go on 17 when there's a big contest on and run a special activation listening up to 25 kHz up... or down.
What is a special activation? What is running 25 up?
totally agree.... contesting really hones one's skills, interfaces with your logging and the entire path from your microphone/headset out to the antenna(s) AND everything in between.
And between your ears - yes! LOL! :)
My first ever contact was in a contest. I passed my Tech in the morning and drove right to our club. There was a contest going on so I sat down and operated (with an Extra as station control). All my contesting has made me better at net control, emcomm, SOTA, POTA, etc.
Great job! Fab!
I hate tests. Is it a weekend and I sit down to work some radio. Turn on the radio and what do you hear?
CQ contest cq contest! It's like I wants to throw up. 73 de SM/IZJ
You know, only very few contests are 48 hours. Most are 24 so you SHOULD get Saturday morning and SUnday afternoon free (in EU)
Excellent . You learn what band to be on at what time of the day and Sunspot cycle etc etc and lowering your power makes you a far better operator now 81 and I am loving it even more CW or SSB thank you
Nice!
Key to contests is inclusivity. If everyone is on a level playing field like CQWW then all good. The contests which I don’t like are the ones where ops are only interested in working certain countries for the big points, like the SP or OK contests. Otherwise, contests bring the higher bands to life, allow you to work new countries and really test out your antenna system. It’s only where some contests favour a particular country to chase that it then effectively shuts the gate on many joining in.
Yes, I like everyone-works-everyone..
I will never do a contest but I occasionally reply to contest stations when I think I can get through. Especially good for testing out new antenna configurations with my long wires with un uns . M7BLC.
Problem with this is serial numbers. How do we give contacts away to folk without having to give a valid number? Should we just iterate like everyone else, but just not submit a log?
@Mark Pentler IN the main, most rules say that if a station doesn't give you a number, the contester logs you as 00 (zero zero)
I can see how contesting improves your operational chops, but as an activity in itself, have never understood the attraction of it.
It's one of the reasons why I lost interest in transmitting early on in my amateur radio career.
Without contests and pota the bands would almost fall silent.
I’m not a contest fan, but you are correct about gathering information about ham radio.
I've never been very interested in them myself, but each to his own. I do have a strong dislike for contest guys who feel like the contest gives them the right to operate wherever they feel like it. I've had a nice PSK31 rag chew blown by CW ops during a contest on more than one occasion. I've had a contester blast right into a SSB QSO I was in and when we asked him to move he told us it's a contest and we need to go to another band.
So there's that.
I caved. If there's a contest, I'll just hope that 30, 17, or 12 meters is open and if not, I'll find something else to do.
Yes Kevin, I think that's the 97% / 3% debate again. 3% of everyone ruins everything!
@@DXCommanderHQ True across just about everything. Over here the saying is, the few will always ruin things for the many.
I've worked contests as a teenager. I was never out for blood like my neighbor. Now older, my thing is A.M. maybe old novice rigs.
@@DXCommanderHQ Oh oh...That is much more than 3%, sorry to say!
I was pretty much turned off contests right at the beginning of my amateur radio days in a local contest where I was effectively being hunted by contesters even though I had stated I was not a contest station, I got the “c’mon give us some numbers” routine. Needless to say I was not impressed by the “your on air so you’re fair game” attitude. This view was reinforced when a number of years ago I participated in the international lighthouse weekend which because of vagaries of the amateur radio calendar in Australia was on the same weekend as the remembrance day contest. RD contesters were “tail ending” ILW contacts and then “claiming” the frequency as their own. All this wasn’t helped by myself finding contests incredibly boring when I started listening to amateur activity prior to being licensed. Yes I believe there is room for all and I am friendly with some of the people who chased me for points, and I do believe in to each their own but sometimes the competitive spirit spills over in inappropriate ways. Rant over and cheers everyone. John VK3YO.
Indeed, each to their own..
Same story. My former club invited me for a contest and I hated the format. It is always 59 and then some numbers or letters after, no log at all and completely useless. About the "fair game" of the frequency "okupas", that is not what ham radio is about. Doing unethical things for a piece of paper.
I like the frenetic RSGB 80 m SSB club contests. 90 minutes of constant activity is about as much as I can take. I'm not competitive so I won't resort to online spotting or "assisted modes" or click-on-screen tuning or any of that mullarkey. My scores will never be huge, but they accumulate for our club. A good test of rig, aerial and operating skills.
I used to do those 90 minute sessions. Heck, I was exhausted doing them! One week, I claimed top score! 80m SSB. No idea how I did that!
Like all hobbies, many niches to get into, and Contesting has never interested me, I got into HAM radio 4 years ago at age 57, hold a General License and spend little time on the air. For me I like to learn about and tinker with vintage ham and no ham radio gear, that use IC electronics and tubes. That is my niche in this vast hobby. Ham radio has something for everyone interested in radio,electronics, communications,etc. a Great Hobby.
Perfect!
Great upload mate.
HAHA Mike!
Great Fun 😀
absolutely LOVE the videos callum, keep em coming!
I didnt do contests at all, it was a chore I could never make contact with anyone or completely piled over all the time. I got a amplifier, and then it became extremely fun, it also taught me a lot about my setup, better operating principles, tuning my ear to get out the most distant DX and so much more. and if you dont want to participate, just turn the radio off or move to a different band. Ernest - KN4MYB
Yep.. I did the King of SPain contest on 100W.. It was OK and there was plenty of space for other QSOs up and down the bands.
Good morning Callum I really enjoy working contest, now I don’t do every one of them, But they’re fun. To do a rag chew with somebody is hard because of the propagation because they can be 59 then next time I barely hear them. I really like working pota because those fellas are out in the hot or cold weather trying to activate a park. And the propagation here in Texas is not very good. But we will keep plugging along. Thank you for the video and I hope you have a great day
WD5ENH
Steve
Yes, a good mix-and-match is what I like.
Firstly I was dismayed at the contest every weekend, the only time I had to operate and more people would be on as no work. I then realised if you cant beat em join em. So I also found that working DX stations on 10w was much easier than trying for the usual pile up as the DX has sucked the band dry, during contests the DX is all over the band/bands
I certainly can appreciate that. For me however, I like operating under non-contest days when you get whoever you get to come back to you. To me it feels more authentic. You are quite right, about everything you're saying, all I'm saying is that's how I enjoy operating, where I might work the Britt who's driving home after work, while I'm on lunch break, or the Siberian who's having breakfast, while I'm having dinner. Maybe it's more about the type of QSO I get that way because in some ways it's less formal than a contest QSO.
If you want to improve your HF skills, be a Net Controller or a Relay for an HF net. And in case of a real disaster, the net format would be used. And in a net disaster situation, slower CW or PHONE could be a life saver. The OP in the disaster may be using QRP or low power with a temporary antenna. Plus, in the real deal, the NC is the "Air Traffic Controller". Living in H-TOWN, hurricanes, flooding, and even ice storms come our way.
Remember:
Speed is Important:
Accuracy is Paramount!
is the right answer!
I note that following hurricane Katrina numerous emergency ham stations went on the air around the periphery of New Orleans, and they did great work. But as the days wore on more and more of them, most went silent even though there was still great need of their services. They ran out of gasoline for their cars and generators. They weren't truly set up for emergency communications. They were set up for Field Day. They were running 150 Watt radios and hundred Watt light-bulbs from 2 or 3 kW gasoline generators, when they really only needed 5 to 15 Watt radios and a good 3 Watt LED or 2 running off a small battery and a cheap PV panel. An emergency communications system isn't about an expensive, high-power radio and a huge antenna array. It's more about the ability of a communications system to adapt to the situation, to operate, and to continue to operate. Just a reminder for the thoughtful.
I never really liked contest weekends. It feels to me like it's too easy. I like normal conditions when some hams may have the rig on, but aren't trying for every contact they can get.
They're pretty helpful for us low power stations with simple antennas to get immersed in a target rich environment (i.e. getting DX you never hear in 'normal' conditions), and it definitely sharpens your skills on the rig, and your ears.
Never tried, I think I prefer regular local net's
Not quite into the contesting yet to be honest although I have tried it a few times..
You’re right about how it can improve your operating and also listening skillset though 👌🏻👍🏻.
Fair enough!
I've tried contesting a time or two but it's just not for me. Yes the bands get crowded, but they're not going anywhere so complaining isn't going to help. I've become a better operator doing my usual thing (chasing various OTA stations) during contests as you really have to use eveything you got to pick out non-contest stations in between all the loud contesters and I know my skills improved as a result of operating in those crowded situations. Sometimes I come across a lonely contester calling CQ with no takers and I'll give them a contact so they know they're getting out and can get some points on the board. It can also be a good way to collect some DX you might not normally hear.
Well, that's a fine way of looking at it. I have only "enetered" one contest in about 3 years..
Completely agree! Contesting doesn''t give you any skills that DX wouldn't.
This is something I thought about a lot. No contests for me. I've never wanted to talk to people on the air. I just talk to them when I need to. I prefer to design, build, experiment. I spent 2 years doing longwave BPSK beacon experiments. I didn't even have a ham license at the time. Had no interest in getting one. Adding a call-sign to my beacon message wasn't even worth the bother since I was the only one monitoring it or who even knew how to receive the signal and decode the message. And once I was consistently blanketing 700 miles in every direction from my home in Colorado I got bored with it and took down my beacon antenna. I was done. I'd figured it out, so it was time to move on to something else.
I know a contester with five 200 foot tall antenna towers loaded with phased arrays and hand selected low noise preamps. He lives on top of a mesa nearby and has a multimillion dollar station/s and stacks of 1500W linear amplifiers and automatic tuners. But he had no idea I was even transmitting my 5 mW on 1750 kHz 15 miles away. It wasn't a ham band and there were no contests on it so he ignored the most interesting band on the radio spectrum. And if he did tune it in he probably couldn't hear my beacon. That required a vertically phased antenna with a high Q, tuned preamp. And if he did hear it he probably would have no idea what it was or how to decode it. We were oblivious to one another, which suited me fine, although I found it amusing that for all of the money he has put into the most expensive radio gear this side of NASA he had no idea how to even copy my $100 station that was built with audio op-amps pulled from old consumer electronics, and used weathered PVC pipe to make an antenna loaded down with 2 miles of surplus hook-up wire.
That's amateur radio to me, not contests. I think contests and logging QSO's take the fun right out of radio, and repeating, "We have you 5 and 9 in Colorado, 5 and 9. Good luck with the contest," over and over and over for hours on end sounds more like a nightmare than a hobby to me.
The thing about 1,750kHz is that we would NOT have known you were there because the 160m hamd band starts at 1.8MHz anyway. So now we know!
@@DXCommanderHQ, that was what I never understood about 'amateur radio'. If a fun band was dirt-cheap and easy to operate on and didn't even require a ham license, why wouldn't hams jump at the opportunity to play around on it? Yet I actually had hams tell me, "I can't operate on those frequencies. That's not a ham band." They said literally those very words. And they said that their QSO's "wouldn't count" because it wasn't a 'ham' band.
It's a perfectly legal RF band with almost no restrictions, yet they seemed afraid to even listen on it. Very odd. Very sad. That was when I realized that true 'amateur' radio had stagnated over the years and become entirely consumer' 'ham' radio. I found that very sad.
Now, after further decades, there is a fun 'ham' band at 135+ kHz, and it is still ignored, apparently because hams can't buy a variety of prefabricated radios with buttons, knobs, and lights to plug in power, a mic, and an antenna and easily operate on the band. I find that still sadder.
Contests not my thing but if i do take part they get a real signal report if there 4/3 they get a 4/3 report
In my experience, contesting brings out the worst in ham operators. Contesters think they can just jump on to any frequency they want and start transmitting without ever asking if the frequency is in use. And, if they are told the frequency is in use, more often than not they just continue calling "CQ Contest" anyway. So, there goes the usual explanation that contesting makes you a better operator. It's the opposite as far as I'm concerned. The other thing I've wondered about is, what is the point of contesting anyway? Is it just so you can see your callsign on a list in some ham radio publication? Just my two cents worth...Ivan VE7IVN
I think anything brings the worst out in about 3% of any population.. We can't use the same brush on 100% of the population because most ops are respectful. The list isn't endless but USA, UK, most of EU stations that I hear move when required and check a freq is clear. However, the two to avoid at end March (CQWPX) and and Sept (CQWW). That is a total Zoo.
@@DXCommanderHQ I'm a small 100W suburban station, and the CQ contests are indeed zoos, for sure. But once you calm down inside the cage (takes a while for me, because it takes the ears a while to adjust to the madness), I have gotten some great long sought after and rare (for me) DX. It's not for everybody, and I can respect that. On the big contests, I can usually cuss under my breath at about 3 annoying operators out of the hundreds I hear.
@@Roddy1965 Yes.. Good insight.
Great video Cal. A contest is not my most favourite thing, but if nothing else gets things on the log. I do sometimes struggle to work out what contest it is, and what the exchange protocol is ! Mark, 2E0MSR.
Yeah, you need a quick look-up on the rules and check the exchange.
ham sandwiches are pretty good too
.. and pickle
The interesting thing: bands are mostly dead...untill there is a contest 🤣 90% of my contacts with new stations are made during contests.
Very good point! DIal up and down the band on a quiet weekend. Nothing on!
Love contesting, do as much as I can when I can. I have done fairly well in some and not so good in others. Still a good bit of fun. I cannot wait for the fall CQ WW CW and SSB contests, I want my 12.4 up by then. I will be on St John, USVI for CQWW SSB... Have my Dxpedition near the saltwater... should be a scream.
Salt water.. Yes, you will be loud John!
Never thought of contests like that, time to give it a go I think! Jim M7BXT
Nah… It’s the phone equivalent of FT8, then I’d rather do that instead. But, as another replier states: to each their own.
I loathe contests. This is a hobby. A relaxation. Work is enough of a contest for me. I don't need to contest to practice radio comms. I'd rather a 15-20 minute rag chew where you can try things with a solid source and get consistent feedback. Rather than a few seconds with a few ops with wildly different signal or noise levels
So you spin the dial. Good man.
No--- they are competitive instead of cooperative
I look forward to making your acquaintance on a WARC band.
A also find contests to be deeply irksome. Wouldn't mind if they were less frequent. But as often as not, they are every, single, solitary weekend, bar none. Frankly, it is one of the factors that has me pack the radio away after a few weeks of the weekends being a total 'no go'.
Yup. I don’t try to be competitive in contests, & usually don’t even submit a log. It just gives me a chance to try a mode or three without the risk that the other op wants to get into a long, drawn out conversation. Make a few contests, make sure I know how all the bits & bobs work, maybe improve my setup’s config parameters for getting better & better at solid decode, etc.
That's it!
I have 3 answers to your question:
1. No.
2. Hades, No
3. Anathema, No
Turns Ladies and Gentlemen into monsters. The antithesis of what a ham should be
I look forward to making your acquaintance on a WARC band.
Dominic, I'm clearly not as well read as you are because I don't know what sort of radios are the Anathema and the Antithesis :)
@@DXCommanderHQ Anathema is Greek for "One Damns oneself". It is to Damn what Hades is to Hell. A way to cuss cleanly.
Antithesis is the opposite of what a person or position is. A Lady/Gentleman is not a monster.
Contests are all about ego and chasing paper. True that I also like to chase some paper, but I also enjoy 3 minute QSOs. I hate the format and I don't do contest or respond to stations doing contests. Is not nice to go to a frequency that is clear 5K above and below, only to be sandwiched between two guys doing contests, or worse, a guy doing a contest right in my frequency. It is a lack of respect and harms the ham radio hobby.
If you like to test yourself, the best is to work DX or weak stations. Patience is a virtue, and it is the main skill to be trained when working ham. Unfortunately, many operator lack just that and can't work DX without a 1 KW amplifier.
73 mate
Every contest rst report is 5nn 😂
Not for me , but then I never understood train spotting.
Or fishing.
No, I do not like contests. I'm tired of having to compete everywhere else in my life the last thing I need is to compete in my hobbies too. So someone gets bragging rights? Big frickin deal. It seems that every single week it is some contest or other. That is guaranteed to push people away that just want to use the air waves without getting yelled at by some impatient box ticker.
Personally i despise contests i dont see the point and it turns some folk into parasites..
Not sure of the parasites but it's OK, you don't like them..
I can't stand contesting. I'm so burned out cause of Field Day.
OK!
Contesters are wankers. Look at all the youtubers who are now too cool for “please copy” on field day. These are the influencers.
OK
nope hate contests with a passion. just today im listening to a QRS chat between a mentor op and a fresh new cw op one qrp 10w but 579 to me when out of nowhere not one but two "contester's"
fire up both one bang on their frequency the other no more then 80Hz up no preamble no check just boom straight in to an endless chain of cq test blahh there is no way they didn't hear the ongoing qso the same on phone last night im tuning through an hear a chap calling cq he called 3-4 times i was about to respond and boom contest op fires up cq contest blaa blaa straight over the top of the chap who responded with a rant so contest twerp moved ONE kc down and continued constantly calling with an auto talker the entitlement and ignorance of some of these people is utterly astonishing and do no favours for the hobby at all!
Yes, happens to me as well by regular DXers. You can't tar every one with the same brush..
Have been thinking of getting into ham radio recently. But from what I’m finding out is it’s just a collecting hobby. Just like train spotting and the old days of CB. I remember as a kid getting a AM CB radio. Then they became illegal and so went over to FM with the reduced distance capability. Every time you called out “Breaker 19 for a copy it was the same old thing. What’s my power look like on the other end and what was their twenty. Zero content or conversation, just onto the next to see how far I could get out, to the point it became boring. Ham radio seems no different, just more costly for equipment. If you wish to contact people, just to see how far you can reach and what clarity and strength of signal your gear puts out what is the purpose of it all. Just go to the mall and speak to people face to face. It serves no purpose to collect these QSL cards. May as well collect stamps.
Yes, stamps were fun too. But I sold mine. Only a tiny proportion of my world is contesting - check my Friday live-streams, I see where I'm getting out.. It's like the "old days" like you say.
Most people would have to work 18 hours a day to buy all that stupid equipment that serves absolutely no purpose.
Yeah, like golf or fishing..
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
like always great info and insight. 7 3 KN6TUX
Thanks for watching!