Contesting Online Survey

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Do you plan to enter the CQ WW DX Contest?
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Recently the RDXC committee reclassified P3F to high power from low power without publicly providing strong evidence that any infraction had occurred. They concluded was that the contestant was running HP on 80/40m but not full-time, just 10 minutes here and there without any convincing evidence. It appears they used the RBN as their source of information. Should the RXDC contest have to publicly provide convincing evidence before reclassifying a station from LP to HP?
2021-10-27

Randy, K5ZD, wrote a sidebar titled " Convergence and Change" in the 2015 CQWW CW printed results in CQ magazine. He wrote that the "convergence of personal computers, Internet access, DX clusters, and CW Skimmer have changed the nature of CW contesting". He goes to say that it is "more difficult to police the line between the single operator working alone and those who are using the assistance of DX spotting." In light of this convergence and change is it time to recombine SO and SOA into a single category?
2016-05-28

What's your primary Software for HF Contests ? ( no VHF/UHF ! )
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Thanks for voting! Your vote has been included in the results below.
If you could have any feature or improvement added to your main contesting rig what would that be?
Posted: Dec 15, 2001 (354 votes, 12 comments) by n4uk

Survey Results

External VFO tuning knob with RIT tuner 12% (41)

Menu selectable RF output in increments of 5 watts 3% (10)

A DVK that worked like a DVP 16% (56)

A built in mic audio graphic equalizer 6% (23)

Variable AGC adjust 10% (35)

Other 19% (67)

Rig's fine as is 34% (122)

Survey Comments

Other - IF Passband setting in CW mode

One JA manufacturer sets the max IF passband to 1 KHz when operating in CW mode. Why only restrict the user to 1 KHz IF passband when the band in many locations can be very noisey and copy is better with a wider passband. In many older rigs the CW Wide was a 1.5 KHz filter with 500 Hz or similar for narrow passband. Also tuning a band for activity is better with a wider passband.
73s
Posted by g3rep on December 23, 2001

Other

Really need to put a narrow SSB filter onto my IC-718 to eliminate
all the splatter from the EU's that seem to take up at least 6 khz
due to over driving their amps and mike gains. Already odrered
one and will have in the rig shortly. Other than that, for a simple
"bare bones" rig you couldn't ask for more.
Posted by N4SEA on December 22, 2001

Other

Another TS850SAT

Posted by ES5QX on December 20, 2001

Narrow Roofing Filter

During the 99.999% of the time when not running AM/FM or using the noise blanker, have the ability to switch in a narrower roofing filter in the first if stage to improve dynamic range characteristics.
Posted by N1EU on December 19, 2001

AGC needs Help

Selectable:
1. less AGC compression when running - allow strong signals to sound a little stronger and weak signals a little weaker
2. very fast AGC recovery for use on 160M during frequent static burst QRN
Posted by N1EU on December 19, 2001

Other

Better RX performance, especially front end.
Posted by N9CO on December 19, 2001

I'd like to see two things -- true variable IF filtering without DSP shortcomings and a panic button that, when pushed, would restore receiver or whole-rig configuration to a baseline user-defined state. There are just too many variables on modern receivers to adjust quickly during a contest QSO, and when you screw one of them up it would sure be nice to be able to get back to "normal" before you lose the QSO.
Posted by N4ZR on December 19, 2001

VFO/RIT/Sub-VFO

I would add a simple firmware change to the FT-1000MP which would allow you to store your main TX frequency, and use the Main VFO knob for tuning the RX. It's ridiculous to use that teeny RIT knob for tuning when the big Main-VFO knob is sitting there unused. As it stands now, I set my TX frequency into the Sub-VFO (A->B) and lock it so I can use the Main-VFO knob for tuning off-frequency CW stations. Unfortunately this means I can't use the Sub-VFO for RX tuning other areas of the band. This simple firmware change would greatly add to the useability of the MP for CW contests.
Posted by W4ZV on December 18, 2001

Overkill

In the multi-op environment I participated in we put band aid over (or removed) the knobs ops were not supposed to fiddle with after things got properly tuned up. Only the designated members of the crew were allowed to tune up or change settings (finals and amp, tuning, processor levels and so on). On a FT1000MP you can remove the power level knob (and to make it more secure put some plastic tape over the bare pot-end. Sometimes KISS pays!
Posted by VK2GWK on December 17, 2001

5w RF power increments

Many amplifiers require a lot less than 100 watts to drive them to full output power. The drive range can vary from 30 watts to more than 100 watts.Most rigs presently have a variable adjust knob for output power but this is not the safest way to control the power output to safely drive an amplifier.In a multiop environment some operators are not totally familiar with the contesting rig that they will be sitting in front of and invariably the RF output knob is turned by mistake. This can cause problems ranging from overheating of the amp, tube failure, splatter, etc. A menu selectable RF output would solve this problem. See? It wasn't such a silly idea after all once you understand some of the problems experienced in a multi environment.
73, Ken, N4UK
Posted by n4uk on December 17, 2001

Variable IF filter selection, or 1.5 KW output!

Either variable true IF stage filtering, or maybe 1.5 KW finals. Solid state, auto tune of course, with an automatic antenna tuner.

73 Clinton AB7RG

Posted by AB7RG on December 17, 2001

Please explain

I was really baffled by some of the choices.... What the heck is the use of 5 W increments in RF power...... Please explain!
Or should that be 5 db? Are we talking VHF/UHF?

Am I too critical when I say that both the initiator and the moderator of this Survey apparently have no idea how silly this selection sounds?

Henk VK2GWK
Posted by VK2GWK on December 15, 2001

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