Jim, N2EY wrote: Contesting is one way to build operator skills, by pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone. It's also one of the driving forces behind improvements in ham rigs and techniques, such as the replacement of separates with transceivers.
Agreed absolutely and, as Jim went on to say, "With all due respect, the first order of business is to define what 'really good operating practices' are. Good ragchewing practices aren't necessarily good contesting or traffic handling practices." I don't find it any more appropriate to transfer extremely abbreviated operating styles to routine contacts that it would be for me to work a station in the SS beginning, "HOWDY OM. TNX FOR THE CALL. FB QSA5 SIG HR. GOOD TO WRK U...etc. etc..." Traffic nets are an entirely different story from both Contests and routine QSOs. I don't see anything suggesting that when it comes to operating procedures that "one size fits all". Indeed, as I mentioned earlier, I've had it backfire on me when I thought a station was giving me a short contest-type call after I sent a CQ only to find out later that he was actually in a QSO that I could hear only one side of. That's a very common situation on the HF bands. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
