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Contesting Online Speak Out


Speak Out: Is this frequency in use?

A relatively new contester wonders "How do you determine whether a frequency is in use before claiming it? How many times should you ask? How long should you wait? What do you do if someone comes back and says that the frequency was his?" Let's give the new guy some words of wisdom.

52 opinions on this subject. Enter your opinion at the bottom of this page.
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Opinions...

Page 1 -->

M5FRA on 2009-12-04
>>I felt bad that they could not chat, but contests like this are few during the year and I guess they would just have to wait until it died down a bit.<<

They just got pushed off, or bullied off the air as is usual in a contest.

Anonymous on 2004-03-12

Anonymous on 2004-03-12

Anonymous on 2004-03-12

k0tv on 2002-12-10
I'm the guy who asks twice, calls and will yield within 5 minutes if someone comes back, so apparently I'm the true gentleman about it, so you die hard "I've been here for 90 seconds and you're not getting your frequency back" guys can ignore the rest of this message now.

I believe that contesting is (or should be) fun, not cut-throat competition that leads to ulcers, heart attacks, or strokes. In my book, you should yield to someone with a LEGITIMATE claim to a frequency. Within a few minutes. Maybe five is too long (that's what the consensus says), but two minutes is certainly in the window.

This last weekend in the 160 test, my other operator reported leaving for a mult, coming back to find someone calling CQ on our frequency. We had been on this freq for 7 1/2 hours. I checked the recordings (WriteLog is pretty nice) and found we had been gone for 85 seconds from the frequency. The guy who stole the frequency told us that we had left, he called 2 QRLs, 10 CQs and had worked two stations since we left, all this at about 22 WPM. (If you believe him, I think he has a bridge in two land to sell you). He even sent me an email to "explain" his actions. He used as justification that someone had just done it to him. He must have had some kind of guilty conscience to have sent me that email.

This is the kind of operation that gives us (contesters) a bad name.

Maybe this is sour grapes on my part but to be honest when it stops being fun, it stops being a worthwile thing to do. Let's take a look at our habits and try to be a little more gentlemanly. We're supposed to be the "best of the best" and this kind of operation certainly isn't.

You'd never hear a really top notch contester pulling stunts like this. Let's keep this thing we do fun.

LZ1ABC on 2002-10-30
Never call QRL!
There is always a chance a passing person to hear you and say "YES" or "QRZ de xxxx".
Instead start calling CQ. If the freq is really in use the they will let u know.

73's de Chav

wd8x on 2002-10-30
As always in a contest there are going to ragchewers who have temporarily lost 'their' regular sched frequency to contesters calling CQ. Last weekends CQWWSSB contest blew me away by the complete lack of respect of these guys who tried taking the frequency back from a DX station because they wanted to ragchew. What made me real angry was the guys on 20 meters who powered up their high power rigs and blew everybody away 3-4 khz up and down with their broadcast quality audio. I understand that nobody 'owns' a frequency, but as I paused for a minute during the contest to fix my logs and listening to a YU station run a pileup, this guy just starts calling for his buddy with what seems 5KW. Normally I would admire the broadcast audio and clarity but this guy did not care because some useless contester was on his frequency. The YU station tried in vain but had to move off, as well as those nearby working the contest. And what may you ask was this nutsack talking about with his buddy? Why, they were experimenting with microphone settings, modulation, power output. I'm absolutely sure by listening to the way they talked about the contesters that they were trying to do one thing, piss people off and show them how big their signal is. How pathetic. I heard a couple of old timers trying to carry on a QSO in the middle of it all and they gave it up because they could not hear each other from the noise on each side. I felt bad that they could not chat, but contests like this are few during the year and I guess they would just have to wait until it died down a bit. These guys yielded to a contest and I'm glad they did and I respect them. As for the guys who have a grudge against contesters and try to play games with them, quit being so selfish and wait until the contest is over, you will only make yourself look stupid and piss others off.

Anonymous on 2002-08-17

Anonymous on 2002-08-03

Anonymous on 2002-08-03

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