"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...
Dave Heil wrote:
KØHB wrote:

"Mike Coslo" wrote


Who do ya want - a impatient knob twiddler with a FTDX 9000 and an
antenna farm of (insert your favorite antenna here), or a good capable
contester with say a dipole and an IC-746.



Your example is specious, Mike. Generally the contester who builds a
competition grade station has also invested in building the skills and
techniques to take advantage of the capabilities they have sought in
their station design.

73, de Hans, K0HB


Generally but not always, Hans. Here's an example: Joe Moneybags has
always admired the photos which Hans Brakob takes. He notes that Hans
always uses a top of the line Nikon. Joe sells his Canon and buys the
expensive Nikon. His photos are still not up to the Brakob standard. Joe
fails to realize that the skill of the photographer is more important
than the price or model of the camera. You have to have seen something
similar a dozen times in DXing or contesting.

And that is my basic point. If people want to claim it is specious, then I
guess they mean that the equipment is much more important than the
operators skills.

All you have to do is pump money into the contest station, and assuming
you pump the most money into it, you will win.

Sounds ridiculous to me. Perhaps my with my setup, I should just give up.
I don't stand a chance of even doing well, much less winning, eh?

Or perhaps a person can hone their skills using a modest setup, then move
on to a hot station and start doing very well.

I wonder how many Ops have started at the top?

I think I'll buy an Indy car. If I buy the mostest expensivist one, I'll
surely win all the races, eh?

- Mike KB3EIA -


Your on the right track Mike. Work on your skills. Best way to do that is
to operate at a, shall we say, less than competitive setup. Makes you
appreciate the improvements as they come.

That is why the loss of the Novice license is such a disaster to Amateur
Radio.

We used to have to dig em out of the noise, hand on rx and follow them
up/down the band. Not much for filters, just your ears and brain. But
that's another subject.

Dan/W4NTI