I have a few comments about the Ten Ten International group that has promoted activity on ten meters for quite some time. As of lately this group has been getting a bum rap by several hams due to the conduct of one ham in the south and of course various comments on the air.
The problem centers on 28.425 a southern based station constantly calls CQ via a recorded loop, never listens and occupies the channel for a couple of hours. In many instances this station called CQ 10-10 for long periods, then berated those who did not have a Ten Ten number. Ten-Ten responded to his poor conduct and ejected him from the club. I personally think they had no choice in this matter.
I have nothing against the 10-10 group, nor will I mean mouth this group in any way, my interests lie elsewhere and not with the collection of numbers. In fact the only numbers I want to hear on ten meters are the ones in the call signs and my signal report making a valid contact.
One does not need to be a member of 10-10 to work ten meters and to me if some berates you that is a member of the club, I would report them to the President of the organization.
However, I have not found this to be true, most ops give their number, then if you have one you exchange numbers, but if you do not then you deserve an invite, or encouragement and not a put down on the air.
Some years ago I was working for 5 Band WAS granted I was a little annoyed that many of the contacts I made on ten for this award gave me a number first and not their name, or location. They just assumed I had a number, or was interested enough to collect numbers I was not.
In the last year my interest has peaked once again on ten meters, but I hunt and pounce for DX stations only. I could care less about ten ten numbers.
However, if this is your thing and you wish to join, but hesitated due to the unnecessary and poor habits of a few, do not let this stop you. If you have no interest then simply forget it and be a lone ranger on the band, working the DX and not caring about any numbers.
Now, I know that Ten Ten offers a lot of awards, personally I do not need any more wall paper, my Xyl refuses to let me take up any more space. I have one wall filled with awards and do not need any more of them So be it, go for Ten Ten, or not, this is a good group of ops and they did not deserve the bad publicity they have received by a few bad apples.
