All of you contest managers out there - please be sure to send me rules and announcements for VHF/UHF contests. I'd like to get more >30 MHz contests in the Contester's Rate Sheet (http://www.arrl.or
I recall a letter written to the ARRL (that was it...just "ARRL", not even a department) by a high-school kid asking the question, "Can a dipole can be made twice as long by grounding one end?" He o
Not being a big-time VHF/UHF contester, please discount my opinion appropriately, but I'm a systems guy and we can't pass up this sort of discussion :-) Here's an entirely different architecture for
w2ev@arrl.net based categorizing system is better for our future. much greater factor at VHF/UHF than is ERP? Only if you're not standing in front of the antenna when the key is pressed A little mor
six What about just adding 6 meters to the 10 Meter Contest as a separate band. You could leave the traditional single-band entry completely unchanged. Add a two-band set of categories and...voila..
band. Add I agree that single-band contests are there to focus on that band - there are several 6-meter contests, but not sponsored by a major organization, i.e. - ARRL. The League is tapped out whe
Just to be sure everybody gets the word - the QST date for the Jan VHF SS is rong (shown at 17-19 Jan)! My bad. The ARRL Web site is correct - 24-26 Jan. Please forward the info far and wide so that
Not to pick on Jim and John, but here are my personal responses to what are not uncommon questions and issues... contesting efforts? Why not try and solicit them? Yes, but I've got an even better ide
Mentioning the Rate Sheet reminded me that VHF+ contesters don't seem to be subscribed to Rate Sheet in the same proportions as HF contesters. Of course, there aren't as many VHF+ contests, etc., but
I said that their mission is "...to insure the health of the Amateur Service", not "...the organization." The very best way to represent the interests of the members is to protect the vitality of Ama
Considering what we routinely spend $39 for this doesn't seem like a particular hardship - it will barely get you 100' of quality cable and the connectors. Yet, for $39 you get QST, a raft of email
Finally we return to heart of the issue which was the original mission of the committee - to increase participation at VHF+ in competitive events and award programs. We all know why contesting is des
You're right. Education (and a little PR) is absolutely key. While QST articles help, I think the local touch (giving talks and one-to-one tutoring) is probably going to give the best results. There
In the interests of full disclosure :-) I have not yet become active in VHF+contesting beyond the occasional small entry. Yet I would really like to get involved and have been actively monitoring, wa
By the way - you can buy new pins and gaskets from most of the connector vendors such as The RF Connection and others. Just be sure to have the right model number of the connector and ask - they're
Don't believe everything you read - particularly headlines :-) The Rate Sheet summary says "This Weekend" when referring to the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, but it's really NEXT weekend, beginning o
It sounds toothless, but the AC's are allowed (and even encouraged) to suggest topics for study. In the case of the VUAC, I believe there will be both directed and suggested topics they can work on.
This is a summation of comments I made to the ARRL VHF+ Ad-Hoc Committee back in April, but too late to include in the final report. It has just been loitering in an email folder since then. I don't
"If the big guns already avoid the calling frequency (which is not the norm here) - what if we made the QSY rule only apply if you are on it? It gets policed by the other people on the frequency. Tre