ARLA/CLUSTER: Episodio 163 da série " Foundations of Amateur Radio "

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Foundations of Amateur Radio #163

The Contesting Coin Toss for the rest of us

If you've been part of the amateur community for a while and have
heard me talk on matters of contesting, you'll know that I'm an avid
contester and that for me, it's better than sliced bread. Of course,
I'm me and you're not.

If contesting isn't of any particular interest to you, the hobby of
amateur radio is big enough for at least 999 other attractions. I talk
about them regularly.

If you're on the fence, or if you're unsure, or if you are not
enamoured with this whole contesting thing, then today I'd like to ask
you to consider another aspect of this activity. Don't worry, I'm not
going to tell you to participate in a contest.

As I said, there are many other activities within the hobby. For
example, testing propagation is a recurring theme, as is testing your
gear, your radio, your skill and doing all manner of other amateur
things. For many of those activities having another person to test
with is often a way to get a result and if you find yourself on a
lonely Saturday looking for a friend to help, I have a suggestion to
make. It relates to contesting, specifically those on air.

It turns out that there are radio amateurs on air almost all the time.
Imagine that. Better still, when there's a contest on, there are even
more radio amateurs around, all clamouring about, trying to make
contacts, trolling up and down the bands, making an effort to hear new
stations, calling CQ, generating signals from all over the place.

Here's the thing. There is no rule that says that you have to be
participating in the contest, or even log contacts for the contest,
but there is no harm in you using the airwaves for your own enjoyment.

Turns out that if you get on air during a contest, you can use that
for example to do testing of all manner of things. If you've run out
of things to test, you can use it to learn things, like how to use the
RIT or "Receiver Incremental Tuning", something Yaesu calls the
Clarifier, or the IF offset, or the noise-blanker, or the
noise-filter, or the A/B VFO, or what ever it is that floats your
boat.

There are people all around you, getting on-air, making noise and you
can join in with the fun. You can learn about the directivity of your
station, observe how propagation changes, how the different bands
react depending on the time of day, the solar cycle, or magnetic flux.
If you have the opportunity, you can monitor the grey-line and observe
its effects on what you can hear.

You can look at a DX Cluster and see what you can hear, compared to
what stations other amateurs are reporting. You can measure signal
strengths, the impact of the AGC, test you battery life, your
mobility, the layout of your shack and if you feel the urge, you can
even log a rare station and add it to your log.

No rule anywhere says that you have to participate in a contest, but
why let a good opportunity go to waste?

If you're an avid contester, you might think that I'm advocating that
we fill the air with time wasters, people who shouldn't be there,
people who are not worth your attention. I'm here to tell you that
just because you're in a contest, doesn't mean that the rest of the
world is and just because you want to make an exchange, not everyone
else does.

If I find myself having a conversation mid-contest with someone with a
story to tell, I can participate in the discussion, or I can change
the dial and call CQ contest somewhere else.

The bands are a shared resource, for those who contest and for those
who don't. The interesting thing in all this to me is that there seems
to be a perception that you can only fall on one side of the coin.
You're either a contester, or you're not and never the twain shall
meet. That just makes no sense to me. There's an opportunity to sit on
either side of the divide and harness both at the same time.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

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