Hamming?
In the US, "contesters" go on the air with absolutely no regard for the
"gentleman's agreement" frequency allocations. I hear UK stations doing it,
too. As a _real_ good example, you can hear people all OVER 14.230 mhz
during a contest, and on 14.233 also. You hear them all over the nets, like
the maritime nets, you hear them every-darn-where. If an emergency were to
occur, you would NEVER be able to use the band to get thru anywhere – not a
snowballs chance in Marla Maples cleavage.
Contests, in the US, consist of a completely unusable ham band, or more
than one. If rules are ever set as to where in the band a contester must
make those contacts, I've never heard of such a thing.
HAM radio, to me, includes, technical innovation and experimentation;
communication (which "you are 5/9" is NOT!); sharing of culture and
friendship; public service; rewarding stimulation from all of the above.
There's no room for contests in MY version of the hobby.
"I'm better than you are" is a useless criteria for HAMs.
–Ben