Contesting is a social game. There are real people behind the callsigns in our log. Sometimes they give us joy, and sometimes a headache. It is all part of the experience.
The social message site Twitter (www.twitter.com) provides a global real-time feed for sharing and communicating short messages with each other. Each Tweet is limited to 140 characters, but it is amazing how much fun you can share in that small form.
Twitter has a feature known as hash tags. They are a way of tagging your message for a specific audience or subject. We are suggesting to use the hash tag #cqwpx for any messages related to the CQ WPX Contest. There is a new widget on the home page at www.cqwpx.com that will display any Tweet that contains the hash tag #cqwpx.
We would like to see participants use the Twitter #cqwpx hash tag to report their experiences during the upcoming CQ WPX SSB contest. Simply post a Tweet with #cqwpx and it will appear on the CQ WPX home page. Twitter also gives us a historical record to review later when preparing the contest writeup. Please comment on unusual band openings, great rates, or epic DX contacts.
Examples using #cqwpx:
- 15 meters is wide open today #cqwpx
- Just worked P29 long path on 10 meters in #cqwpx
We also want to conduct an experiment in social feedback. Use Twitter with #cqwpx to report stations that are not showing good sportsmanship on the bands. Include the call, time, and observation in your Tweet. This real-time feedback will create a public warning and will give us a log of what we may need to investigate.
Examples:
- #cqwpx XX1XX out band on 14349.9 at 1923z
- #cqwpx XX2ZZ very wide splatter 21233 at 1144z
You can post Tweets right from the CQ WPX home page. You will need to have a Twitter account before you can post a tweet. Accounts are free and very easy to set up.
Please do not use Twitter as a chat room for making QSOs.
This is all for fun so please be nice.
- Looking forward to seeing everyone in #cqwpx Mar 30-31