Jack Twilley wrote:

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"Dee" == Dee D Flint writes:


[... I suggested an experiment ...]

Dee Actually Jack, that would not be quite a fair measurement. The
Dee CW op has put in many hours of practicing and participating in
Dee contests to get his/her speed up to a really useful contest
Dee level. Although the phone op has also put in hours participating
Dee in contests to get his/her abilities honed to contest level, it
Dee is far fewer hours than the CW op to get to the top levels of
Dee ability. So the double points, at least to me, also acknowledges
Dee the longer preparatory stage that it takes to get good at it.

Not all CW ops put in as many hours of practice, and some phone ops
put in serious hours. My first contest -- as an Extra, no less -- was
a Field Day. I was terrified of the microphone, and spent more than
six hours practicing calling into a dead mike. It may sound stupid to
some of you, but I was really really really shy. We had a written
script to follow: "CQ Field Day, CQ Field Day, this is Whiskey Six
Charlie X-Ray" was the first line, then the next line included the
response with blanks to fill in, and even a line to thank the other
amateur and wish them luck in the contest. I don't think of this as
being the same as a voice keyer, by the way.

Definitely not! I am a firm believer that Contesting can be a great way
to get people involved in ham radio. Many of them don't quite know what
to say the first times, and a set call/reply/response gives a structure
to the QSO. After that, they can develop their own personal manner of
speaking during the QSO. I think what you did is the only way to go for
new folk.


We were actually pushing
the mike button and speaking, which was very exciting. The one thing
that was more fun than calling CQ was being the control op for
Technicians and non-amateurs who wanted to give it a try. One Tech
got the Cooke Islands as his first QSO, and he's now a General.

Oh yeah, lightning strikes! Not to sound gushy, but imagine what was
going through his mind at the moment.

Contesting was what started me on the upgrade path. At one time I was
happy to just use the repeater and was going to do things on VHF and up.
- Mike KB3EIA -