K3EST Retires

[W3WN]

News released yesterday:

Bob Cox, K3EST, has retired as Director of the CQ World Wide DX Contest and as CQ's Director of Contesting, it was announced today by CQ Publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA.

Cox has been at the helm of the CQWW for 35 years, guiding the contest through massive changes in technology - both on and off the air - and CQWW's growth to become the world's most popular amateur radio contest.

Cox first took the reins of the CQWW in January, 1977, along with Larry Brockman, WA6EPQ (now N6AR), who worked with Bob until March, 1994. In making his announcement to members of the CQ World Wide Contest Committee, Bob said, "35 years encompasses almost the entire history of modern contesting. All the way from paper logs to today's need for instant answers. During that time a framework was created that made the CQWW the innovator of almost everything used in contesting today including log checking." He added, "With that in mind.. I am tired and wish to move on with other interests. "

Ross said the association had been long and fruitful, telling Cox "it has been an honor to have worked with you for these many decades. Your contributions to the art and sport of amateur radio contesting have been enormous."

Cox's retirement is effective immediately. A successor has not yet been named.

[PA5COR]

That is a long time, about as long as i'm ham....
I hope he can have a bit more time for the hobby now ;)

[N8YX]

Bush'sCox's fault the bands are trashed almost every weekend...

[KJ3N]

They don't care.

[NQ6U]

Bush'sCox's fault the bands are trashed almost every weekend...

Yes. Contests are da ebil.

[W3WN]

There's quite a bit of grumbling going on, on the CQ-CONTEST reflector. Allegations are being made about no successor being named, other members of the CQ WW Contest Committee going silent, preferential treatment...

And about 3 weeks ago, I received a phone call from a very well known ham who is involved primarily in the DX circles, but is also a top-notch contester. He wanted my personal opinions about a few individual contesters. When the news about K3EST broke, I asked hm if there was a relation. He didn't deny it, but didn't go into details either.

So I suspect there's more going on than meets the eye...

[N7YA]

I love contests. They wont go away and im happy about that. I never keep score, they are just for my DX totals, but they are very effective for that.

I also love responsible contesters who check a frequency before firing up the 2KW cq-machine...and not just a question mark-wait a nanosecond-THEN fire away. I mean, legitimately ask QRL? and wait for a reply. I make notes of those ops in my log and often send a nice email to them.

Im not so crazy about any op, contester, nets, OF's, etc...who feel they "own" a frequency. Its been clear for many years that nobody "owns" any frequency. The disconnect happens when someone at least tries to do the right thing, then runs across the ownership arrogance, then feels no need to continue being civil themselves in retaliation...then the bitterness continues.

What works for me is realizing theres a difference between acceptance for my own sanity, and weakness because i have no backbone. Well, the first one applies at this qth. Screaming and complaining has done nothing at all! There is no more FCC enforcement, so otherwise civil hams resort to childish on-air vigilante antics and act like children, qrm'ing nets, contests, pileups, ragchews, or anything else they seem to not agree with.

Everyone always says "turn the dial", and many, like myself, do just that. The reason it sounds like insanity is taking over is because you never actually see or hear from the sane ops who do the right thing. All you notice are the dimwitted minority who tune up on the DX calling frequency, whistle, send dits, park right on top of an existing qso and start contesting, etc. Hell, even W1AW, the loudest signal on the band since W6AM was operational, never asks if a frequency is in use before sending their broadcasts (Don always did, by the way). It is what it is, and i certainly am not going to spend my time at the radio worrying about it, i get frustrated sometimes, but i never let it ruin my operating time, ive got stations to log. I just dont want to turn into an angry old guy, complaining about everything because i feel like im losing control and the world is changing around me, but not to MY liking. I made that promise to myself not to do that, and i intend to keep it. Thats the shit that makes you old fast.


I say Good Luck to Bob, worked him numerous times in and out of contests. Regardless of why hes leaving CQ, i hope he returns to the simple pleasure of playing with his radios and making some contacts.

[KB3LAZ]

I love contests. They wont go away and im happy about that. I never keep score, they are just for my DX totals, but they are very effective for that.

I also love responsible contesters who check a frequency before firing up the 2KW cq-machine...and not just a question mark-wait a nanosecond-THEN fire away. I mean, legitimately ask QRL? and wait for a reply. I make notes of those ops in my log and often send a nice email to them.

Im not so crazy about any op, contester, nets, OF's, etc...who feel they "own" a frequency. Its been clear for many years that nobody "owns" any frequency. The disconnect happens when someone at least tries to do the right thing, then runs across the ownership arrogance, then feels no need to continue being civil themselves in retaliation...then the bitterness continues.

What works for me is realizing theres a difference between acceptance for my own sanity, and weakness because i have no backbone. Well, the first one applies at this qth. Screaming and complaining has done nothing at all! There is no more FCC enforcement, so otherwise civil hams resort to childish on-air vigilante antics and act like children, qrm'ing nets, contests, pileups, ragchews, or anything else they seem to not agree with.

Everyone always says "turn the dial", and many, like myself, do just that. The reason it sounds like insanity is taking over is because you never actually see or hear from the sane ops who do the right thing. All you notice are the dimwitted minority who tune up on the DX calling frequency, whistle, send dits, park right on top of an existing qso and start contesting, etc. Hell, even W1AW, the loudest signal on the band since W6AM was operational, never asks if a frequency is in use before sending their broadcasts (Don always did, by the way). It is what it is, and i certainly am not going to spend my time at the radio worrying about it, i get frustrated sometimes, but i never let it ruin my operating time, ive got stations to log. I just dont want to turn into an angry old guy, complaining about everything because i feel like im losing control and the world is changing around me, but not to MY liking. I made that promise to myself not to do that, and i intend to keep it. Thats the shit that makes you old fast.


I say Good Luck to Bob, worked him numerous times in and out of contests. Regardless of why hes leaving CQ, i hope he returns to the simple pleasure of playing with his radios and making some contacts.

I dont understand the we own the frequency thing. I have talked to the same group of ragchewers nightly (aside from a small hiatus or two from the radio) for years now and if we get there and the frequency we normally use is already in use, we move. How hard is that?

Speaking of asking if a frequency is in use; what gets me is those that come back all angry and can not simply say "yes it is in use". No, you get a long speech about how you should have listened for 45 mins so you could tell if there were stations in there that you could not hear. That eventually someone would speak that you could hear. Normally, I tune to a freq, listen a few mins, and if I dont hear anything I ask if it is in use. How hard is it to say "yes, sorry"? Or, yeah, but would you like to join the ragchew? No no no, that must be against some sort of code.

Now, that being said, most of my time in AR I have had positive experiences but I tell you some bad ones leave a taste in your mouth for some time to come.

I try to practice what I preach in that sense. When we have a ragchew (my friends and I) we try to be polite to those that break in. Not something like go away we are busy. But more like, yes the frequency is in use but you are more than welcome to join if youd like. Now, I realize that some people do not want to have a pyramid conversation and that is fine. In that case a polite "the frequency is in use" will suffice. I dont care about your life story as a ham and how your VFO has rusted in place.

/rant