Just a little whinge that has been annoying me a bit lately and this is no reflection on the superb service that I have received during any of my own activations.
Maybe it’s my imagination but I have noticed a growing trend towards stations working an activator, then not spotting him/her.
2m seems to be the worst hit, where I have sometimes heard as many as 7 or 8 stations work an activator but not spot them, the same can be said for HF, both SSB and CW, with the exception of 60m, which is instantly spotted most of the time.
So come everyone, if you hear a /P station, get the spot on them straight away, even if you haven’t worked them yourself, don’t be afraid of missing them if a pile up starts, you will get them in the end.
Sorry to moan, but it has been bugging me for some time now.
I can only speak of my own experience Mike… several times recently the first person to make contact has asked whether I’d like to be spotted, only in the next breath in the same over to advise me that someone else had already done so!
As 2m SSB is my first band / mode of any activation, maybe this is an FM issue rather than a 2m one.
As I said Gerald, I can only offer praise when I have activated because I am spotted every time, and I, like you, am always asked if I want spotting, but I have heard an increasing number of ops who don’t get spotted, I wonder if any other chasers/activators have noticed the same thing, or was I just dreaming?
I think I get spotted by a number of people regardless of the question whether I do or don’t wish to be spotted. This is because they know that I will always say yes as it is part of my MO to work as many chasers as possible.
I am always interested to look at the day’s spots when I return home from a day out activating. I virtually always find that we have been spotted, on 2m FM, and separate from Jimmy’s self-spot. So similarly to Gerald, my own experience tells me that this is not an issue.
However, Mike is detecting a pattern as a chaser in the shack, that we as activators cannot possibly see of course, so maybe it does merit further study. Is anyone prepared to collect the data of number of activations spotted against number of activations not spotted, each day for (say) the next 100 days?
If so, I will be happy to process the data, illustrate any trends and provide some analysis. As we have seen, it is only through the collection of hard data that we can determine what is really happening.
Is anyone prepared to collect the data of number of
activations spotted against number of activations not spotted
Therein lies the problem, if we hear someone and they are not spotted we are going to spot them, thereby the very act of observation invalidates the data. Sounds like quantum physics all over again.
In some cases not being spotted has more to do with not being heard by
sota chasers or working only mobile stations
I quite agree with this, in my experience when I have worked a known chaser (and it must be remembered that a good number of contacts are not regular chasers/do not have access to computer due to being /M, /P etc) I have been spotted if not already done.
Please keep it up chasers, a spot (or in some cases a quick phone-round!) has often been crucial to qualifying some of the odd-timed activations I get up to!
In some cases not being spotted has more to do with not being heard by
sota chasers or working only mobile stations
I suspect this one is aimed at me Mick! All I can say, is that when I have worked only mobile stations, that they were the only ones that answered the calls!
Steve, that is a good point, and it had occurred to me too. The way to collect the data would have to be “after the event”. That is, note the spotted activations of the previous day, and, probably a few days later, note all the activations that took place that day. Probably a bit cumbersome (unless we ould persuade Gary to give us a list of the number of claimed activations per day across the monitoring perios), but if someone wanted to collect the data, I would certainly analyse it.
Mike, I cannot recall an occasion when I was not spotted this year. I’m pretty sure I WAS spotted on all the CE activations, and possibly by your good self on 4 of them. You are absolutely right that I wasn’t spotted on any SC activations.
In reply to M1EYP:
This is not a new thing as it has happened in the past with some stations
I usually spot if nobody else has but sometimes I do not have the time too.