Steve
I seriously considered making the CQWW VHF contest an all band affair when I
began to run it in the year 2000 I was pursuaded otherwise for a number of
reasons, mainly burnout and the desire to have a contest with a slightly
different format.
To be successful all band VHF contests depend greatly on some combination of
the participation of mountaintop portables both single and multiop,
multiband rovers and/or a serious club competition. Why mountaintop?
Because on the higher bands especially the microwaves there is no substitute
for height. Multiband portable operations whether fixed or roving are an
immense amount of work. We already have the June ARRL VHF contest a month
before the CQ WW and the September ARRL VHF contest 6 weeks later. Two
weeks after the CQWW we have the UHF contest in which the top score is
usually several hundred contacts. Three weeks before the CQWW we have the
US Field Day which can be another big effort for some of us and two weeks
before we have the European Field Day which often IS a big effort. With all
of this activity, I was convinced that no one was interested in the amount
of work needed to do a DC to daylight contest.
I was interested in a contest that would take advantage of the propagation
and not require a major expenditure of extra effort beyond about a day of
operating time (a significant multiop means taking time off from work) on a
weekend. I also wanted the contest to deemphasize the importance of
location. Six and two meters do that to a great extent - especially six.
In terms of U.S. rovers, most already have 6 and 2 in their vehicles. So it
would be little extra effort to rove compared with a 10 band effort in June
or September. They could check out some new rover sites and operate under
the old original rover rules.
You may ask why even include two meters. This is an international contest.
Even though I usually get only less than a dozen logs from Thailand, I
understand that this contest is the VHF operating highlight of the year in
HS. The top HS scores are several hundred contacts -ALL ON 2 METER FM. So
there is as much activity in HS as there is in all of the ARRL VHF contests.
I feel an obligation to continue to include two meters both for them and the
handful of Europeans who turn in nice 2 meter scores even though there is
very little CONTEST activity. With the change of dates one week later I
hope that there will be more activity from Europe.
The bottom line is that the CQ WW VHF contest is not a me too contest. It's
emphasis on 6 and 2 meters is in direct contrast with the ARRL contests
which emphasize the microwaves to such an extent that 6 and 2 meters become
irrelevant except as a means to pass stations up the bands unless there is a
huge Es opening.
73 Gene W3ZZ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Kerns" <n3fti@yahoo.com>
To: "Eugene Zimmerman" <ezimmerm@erols.com>; "VHF Contesting Reflector"
<vhfcontesting@contesting.com>; "Blacksheep Reflector"
<vhf-dx-discuss@blacksheep.org>; "Stanford Reflector"
<vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 4:07 PM
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Re: 2002 CQ WW VHF Contest
> Has there been any thought to making this an all band
> contest in the future? It sure would make the contest
> a lot more interesting with more bands. I (and maybe
> others) would operate this contest more seriously if
> more bands were involved.
>
> Just a thought, what does the list think?
>
> Steve Kerns, N3FTI
> 50MHz - 10GHz FN20aj
>
> --- Eugene Zimmerman <ezimmerm@erols.com> wrote:
> > This is a reminder that the CQ WW VHF Contest will
> > be held NEXT weekend
> > beginning Saturday July 20 at 1800Z ending Sunday
> > July 21 at 2100Z. This is
> > a 6 and 2 meter contest only. Rules and log
> > submission information are at
> >
> > http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/VHFRUl02.pdf
> >
> > Cabrillo does NOT support this contest. For
> > electronic logging, use the
> > ARRL VHF contest and change the two meter contacts
> > to two points in the
> > summary sheet. If you submit by internet I need
> > your log [CT .all file or
> > equivalent] and a separate summary sheet [CT .sum
> > file or equivalent].
> > These can be sent as a single file if you wish. Do
> > not send the Cabrillo
> > file WITHOUT a separate summary sheet. I am unable
> > to extract the summary
> > information from the Cabrillo log. But the Cabrillo
> > file will be o.k. for
> > your log.
> >
> > This contest has now been moved one week later to
> > avoid the HF IARU contest
> > and the WRTC, and to put it one week further away
> > from the European Field
> > Day. This is an international contest. All are
> > welcome.
> >
> > Hope to see you there. With some E skip.
> >
> > 73 Gene W3ZZ
> > Director, CQWW VHF Contest
> > FM19jd MD
> > 50 => 10 GHz
> > Grid Pirates Contest Group K8GP
> > Member, CQWW Contest Advisory Group
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------
> > Submissions:
> > vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu
> > Subscription/removal requests:
> > vhf-request@w6yx.stanford.edu
> > Human list administrator:
> vhf-approval@w6yx.stanford.edu
>
>
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