Have “contests” over-stayed their welcome on ham radio?

 

By A.L. Sanders (SK)

 

I would dare say that hams that do not participate in contests outnumber those who do. It is generally known that during a major contest, the HF bands (with the exclusion of the WARC bands) become nearly unusable for non-contesters and net operations. Due to the continuing degradation of operating ethics during such events, there is a steady, growing resentment of contesters in general. There are a good many hams that shut down and avoid the HF bands during contests. Contests or other types of band-wide events occupy no less than 50 weekends per year now.  For many of us hams who work during the week and have little time to operate during that time, the weekends are precious and virtually the only slack period when we can enjoy the HF bands, but with contests forcing most of these hams off the air, or onto the WARC bands, they have become resentful of the contesters.  To the previous statement, the “contester” responds: “we only ask for a weekend to do our thing; can’t you give us that much?” To this I say on behalf of many of us “weekend hams”:  “You are taking the only time we have, and seem to be demanding even more every year.”

 

Nearly all hams have experienced the rudeness, lack of courtesy, poor operating technique and obnoxious behavior of contesters during the weekend event.  The “contester” says: “It’s all in friendly competition.”  I must say that this is a weak defense of the problem, and a sign of deeper issues affecting the individuals who seem to need such competition in ALL aspects of their lives. I can somewhat understand the “type-A” personality who must excel at everything he does, regardless of whether it is in his professional life or leisure time. This type does this because of a drive that he is helpless to curb.  The type I simply do not understand is the ham that must be “number 1” in every aspect of the hobby regardless of how he goes about achieving that goal. Perhaps it is a deep-seated need to stroke his own ego, see his name and call in print because it may be his “fifteen minutes of fame”, the one and only time in his life he will ever be “somebody”.  It is possible that this person feels insignificant and unremarkable outside the ham radio hobby, so to compensate for this he tries to “over-achieve” in ham radio. It is the only place he feels “superior” to anyone. 

 

There is still another type that has great power and authority outside the ham radio hobby; to maintain this perceived authority, they contest and pontificate on how good they are at it, to anyone that will listen.  There are many more sub-types of these major types of contester, but I will not break this concept down any further.

 

Yet another lame excuse the contesters use all the time is; “We are practicing for emergency two-way communications”. To this statement I say this; the type of operations encountered during a contest bear little or no resemblance to the type of operation during an actual communications emergency, which is tightly controlled and strictly formatted.  The “free-for-all” which is typical of contest operations would never be tolerated - and would prove totally ineffective - during a net-controlled emergency communications (EMCOMM) operation.

 

Another unwelcome aspect of some contest activity is the tendency to over-drive everything, from the transmitter’s audio chain to the linear amplifier. In the eternal quest for that extra “Q” or point, spectrally filthy signals degrade the bands even more for those who are simply trying to enjoy a bit of weekend “hamming”.

 

Many of these contesters/DXers seem to be overly willing to damage expensive equipment in the quest to “make another Q”. This is completely illogical and a singularly mindless pursuit, specifically because there is no real monetary prize for the “winners”.  The concept of treating expensive radio equipment as “expendable casualties of war” is simply revolting.

 

The “legal-limit” is yet another item at which many contesters knowingly thumb their collective noses. I have personal knowledge of a well-known contest station that routinely runs RF power levels far in excess of the “legal limit”. This station told me that during a 160-meter contest, he had to run up to 7.5kW output to “make the contact”. A good many contest stations run whatever RF output is required to make the contacts they desire; this usually means levels far above 1.5kW.

 

There is a reason why most contest stations have several linear amplifiers capable of easily exceeding the legal limit: this is the fact that the ops often do so.

 

One of contesting/DXing’s dirtiest little secrets is some of those “all inclusive” DX vacations we often see advertised in the ham magazines. Often, these “ham vacations” are at resorts that cater to hams that wish to run a “mini-DXpedition” or operate during a major international contest from the resort. The ham station is laid on and even operators are provided from the local village (usually poor young males, who are paid very little). The ham on vacation can enjoy a fruity drink out on the beach while the ham station racks up contacts on his behalf. He need not even operate at all, yet he is able to turn in an impressive count at the end of the vacation. They can take advantage of rather lax (or loose) reciprocal-licensing rules in these countries as well. In some cases the reciprocal license is waiting for the ham when he arrives at the resort. All he need to do is sign the document and pay the “fee” which often includes the required bribe for the local “official”.  The more the ham pays, the more “accommodations” will be made for the station, such as number of operators used. Is this unethical? Certainly it is.  Does it still happen?  It certainly does.

 

Why do contests seem to keep growing? Perhaps it is the fact that there are huge amounts of money involved. Money is gathered by the contest sponsors (yes, they make money on it); large amounts of money can be made by equipment manufacturers whose gear is used by the top-rated stations; lots of money is spent by contest stations, to build what they perceive to be an “ultimate weapon” in this silliest of wars.

 

The decline of the art of personal communication (i.e. conversation) among today’s hams, and the reluctance in current society to commit to the long-term friendships which hams once forged via regular on-air contacts, may also be societal factors driving the growth of contesting at the expense of other forms of HF operation.

 

It will eventually come to a point at which the general ham population says that it has had enough, and serious calls will be made to curtail contest band usage, and frequency of events. 

Many of us feel that contests have stayed well beyond their welcome.