> I know a lot of "serious" VHF contest stations, especially the
> multi-ops, make skeds before the contest. Some of them make a lot of
> skeds.
> Am I the only one who finds this somewhat distasteful? This is not
> activity that generally ever happens in HF contesting. I think it's
> fun to just get on the air and see what you can work, and making
> skeds is just one step away from agreeing before the contest to enter one
> another into the logs come what may...
>
> What do other people think about the practice of skeds in VHF
> contesting?
Great topic, Kenneth.
I have been active with a few large-scale multi-op VHF operations, namely
K3MTK (the old W3BBS group), K1TR/1, K1TR/3, and W2SZ (once). I've also
done some single-op VHF contesting.
In the K3MTK and K1TR/3 groups one of the roles I played was to make skeds
with difficult to work grids, typically grids that were pretty far away.
On the edge of normal tropo range. Random contacts with these grids were
pretty hard to make. Not only that, sometimes stations in those grids
really didn't have a lot of impetus to get on. My attempts to contact
them were usually met positively. They were glad someone cared that they
got on. Some of these folks were in pretty remote areas of the country,
some in the outer reaches of Onatario and Quebec, pretty far from VHF
centers of activity. Some of those skeds were successful, some not. But
in the end we did work some grids that nobody else did. Most of this was
done before email and web access were ubiquitous.
Do I find it distasteful? Not really. I fear for the long-term viability
of our hobby, of contesting, but especially VHF contesting, where the
activity levels are already much lower than HF contests. I am an active
and accomplished HF contest operator. Would I ever consider making a sked
in an HF contest? Not ever. I would argue that VHF is different.
The fun in VHF is making difficult contacts. I get a thrill from
completing difficult meteor scatter skeds on 2m. During a contest, which
means no active meteor shower, doing this randomly isnt something half the
casual (but technically capable) operators would even think of doing.
Skeds help in raising the awareness of what's possible.
The reality is that in this day and age of electronic communication, every
serious competitor has access to the same data and can make skeds just as
easily as the next guy. So I fully support making skeds on VHF.
Now, the use of packet/Internet, Instant Messaging, and other means to
"assist" in the completion of skeds, I do find that distasteful. That's
just plain wrong.
-Dave KM3T
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