Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is fast approaching. It is hard to believe that another year is coming to a close.

Along with Thanksgiving, the CQ WW CW contest has also come and gone. Did you operate? Did you meet your goal? Was your goal to have fun or did you have a specific goal in mind?

Some people operate contests to get better each year, some people operate contests to get new states, or new countries for DXCC, and some operate to beat their own personal records. Whatever the reason, I hope that you achieved your goal in the CQ WW CW.

People said that CW activity would decline rapidly upon the no-code licenses. We will have to watch the activity carefully the next few years, but I feel from listening to the bands during the contests that CW activity is still flourishing.

Ham radio has so much to offer us, whether it is CW, SSB, RTTY, or one of the myriad of digital modes, there is room for everyone.

You will see posts on the list-servs every major contest, with the non-contesters complaining about the contesters, but the bottom line is that whether or not you are an active contester, contest operation helps keeps the bands active and help to keep our frequencies in our hands instead of going to the highest bidder (remember 220??)


That being said, we as contesters need to respect the non-contesters during contests. In the heat of the battle it is sometimes difficult to be courteous or respectful, and when the band is crowded with wall to wall signals and no open frequencies to QSY to, the non-contesters have to suffer along with us.

I know some contesters say that the non-contesters can QSY to the WARC bands during the contests, but with sunspots at zero, what band would be open for them to QSY to?

There are still a lot of older rigs out there that do not have the WARC bands on them, but are perfectly good radios.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying don't contest....for I like to get in there with the best of them, but try to be cognizant of our non-contest friends, for one day, we may need their voices to help keep our bands.

Good news for Top Band enthusiasts, the 160 contest season is in full swing:
ARRL 160-Meter Contest: 2200Z, Nov 30 to 1600Z, Dec 2

If one of your interests is RTTY, the next RTTY contest is:
TARA RTTY Melee: 0000Z-2400Z, Dec 1


73,

Jack K4SAC