Bill said:
> I think we're getting carried away with the contest
> rule discussion. No changes to any contest rules
> will have much impact on VHF & up activity...EVER.
As a new guy I feel funny responding to this, but I think rules changes can
impact VHF+ activity negatively (because so much activity happens during
contests.) I agree that rules changes won't do much in a positive way though,
because we probably have as many contesters as are interested... If the HF
folks wanted to try their hand at it, they already would have.
>Get on the bands and listen/speak!!
I attended the NEWS group meeting this weekend and this is their general view
as well. If we get on the air every day, we're more likely to add contesters
to our population.
> If you have some old rigs, consider giving a
> deserving newbie a break on it, and encourage
> him/her to get on and operate.
This is exactly the way I got on the air: with loaner gear. Between that and
some extremely good mentoring (we have a construction group meeting every week)
I am definitely hooked. I think it would be pretty easy to convert some of the
mobile IC-706/FT-100 crowd into VHF contesters (rovers?!) if we were to use the
repeaters/clubs to promote activity every day on sideband. I personally would
love to have a Yagi construction project so I can have some horizontal gain.
(No rig at home, only the car.) A simple drive-on plate and some RadioShack TV
mast would complete the informal setup. I can imagine the fun of making a long
distance sideband contact with simple home made gear like that. A daily
schedule and some simple gear would go a long way in making more noise.
73 de Buck KC2HIZ/r
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