Greetings:
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of those that participated in
our very first "Grid Dip" Contest over this past weekend. I know for some it
will not remain as one of those most memorable moments in contesting, but
nevertheless we were quite excited at the results we're seeing. Granted we
would
have liked to have seen a heck of a lot more participation but we hope that
will
come in due time.
I've read almost everyone's 'SOAPBOX' remarks with great interest. The
general consensus say's we need more participation and I agree 100%! But, a lot
said
the band conditions were horrible. Personally, I think the bands were quite
stinky. However, that did not account for the lack of participation,
particularly on the RTTY side of the contest. At least no all of it I should
say. I was
really hoping that we'd see quite a bit of interest from the RTTY OP's and
that maybe we could even have started a little RTTY Versus PSK type of
challenge. But that was not the case this year.
I am NOT here to make it all sound like dome & gloom! Nope!! In fact like I
stated above we're quite excited about everything we're seeing and reading. The
remarks have been very favorable towards this new contest and a good number
have stated they're looking forward to next year's "Grid Dip." As with all
contests when they're new they must go through some growing pains until they're
"accepted" by the contesters World-Wide. I can remember back to the early day's
of the TARA RTTY Sprint and that was no gigantic splash in the water when it
first ran either. But, with each year came more and more contesters and now we
believe it's a damn good contest.
So, what's in store for the "Grid Dip?" Actually we don't see any changes as
of right now but we'll keep you posted. Although, I think we might need to
reexamine the contest date. One thing that was pointed out by a couple of very
good contesters was the fact that we had NO actual contesting software
package/modules. One of the best remarks I saw was something like this, "Lots
of
Publicity but NO Software = NO PARTICIPATION!" I think we saw evidence to
back
that statement up.
So, I guess we need to get the word out better to our many fine software
developers and ask them on bended knee to help us if they can. Hopefully, by
next
year's contest we'll have several different software packages that will have
incorporated the "Grid Dip" in to their programs. We have four contests now
under our new Four Seasons Contesting Calendar and I know that 2 of them are
covered by many of the logging software packages but our "Grid Dip" and the new
"Prefix - Skirmish" are the ones in question. Even though our TARA RTTY Melee
(formerly the TARA RTTY SPRINT) took on a new name it basically is the same
contest but we've just expanded it and added a few other modes to it! The TARA
Rumble, that too is covered by a good number of logging software
packages/modules so we are looking pretty good with that contest. If there is
any software
developers/authors that are reading my message I'd love to hear from
you.....PLEASE!
Another question I've seen floating around is, "Should I submit just one
QSO?" My answer of course is absolutely! I think any contest you enter you
should
send your score in to the sponsoring host. Especially with the smaller
organizations like ourselves. Yeah, I know, who in hell likes to send in a
CLAIMED
SCORE for 1 stinking QSO? And, in most cases it's more time consuming than
anything else. Please understand that for us little guys it demonstrates you
had
good intentions to participate but maybe things just didn't work out the way
you
had planned. Maybe, you found it to be a drag. Maybe, it was a horrible
contest. Maybe the band conditions were horrible. I could go on and on. Bottom
line, we need the results no matter how small and we need input, both POSITIVE
&
NEGATIVE! So, please send in your contest results right now. I know they're a
good number of you that still haven't but I hope this letter will encourage you
to do so. It's easy as can be, just go to:
http://www.n2ty.org/seasons/tara_seasons.html
>From this page above simply CLICK on the "Grid Dip" Rules & Regulations and
at the bottom of the page you'll see the link for the TARA Score Submissions.
This page is fast and easy, it shouldn't take you maybe but 3 minutes of your
time to complete. Couldn't you give TARA just 3 minutes? I sure hope so!
Oh yes, just one more thing. I tried PSK63 for the very first time in this
contest. What a FANTASTIC contest mode! It may be a little too fast for a slow
typer like me to hold a general ragchew but for contesting...it's the NUTS!! I
highly recommend that you try it in the next contest, actually try it out
today! I'd love to see and hear more chatter about this mode for contesting.
I Thank You for reading this message. Our club has been most fortunate to
have the strong and faithful support that we've received over the year's. I can
only say we owe ALL of our success to each of you! Don't ever forget that these
contests are as much your's as they are TARA's. For without you to support
them with having nothing but some good intentions. If anyone reading this
message would like to help out on the TARA Digital Team, speak up and let me
know,
we ALWAYS need folks to assist us.
73 de NY2U "Mr.Bill"
President of TARA
ny2u@n2ty.org
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