I did the same. Called and called on FT4 and not a single response. When I
saw Europe on .313 I went to 50.323 and nothin' I'm only running 100W here
so I usually can't work the DX on a very busy frequency.
I was talking to my son K2ET about the FT8 dilemma, the 20 something that
doesn't like digital.. We've seen ideas about different categories and
separate contests. What about allocating certain hours? Meteor scatter is
popular in the morning and at night and personally I enjoy FT8 while having
my morning coffee and when burned out at night. What about reserving a
window where digital or any mode can be used, say 9pm until 9am or whatever
makes the most sense. The rest of the contest is limited to legacy modes.
It would be the simplest rules change I've seen floated. It would mix
things up and push people off of digital for a time while still allowing it
all in the same contest. Just a thought...
Dave
N2OA
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 1:07 PM Ed Kucharski <k3dne@comcast.net> wrote:
> ARRL June VHF Contest - 2021
>
> Call: K3DNE
> Operator(s): K3DNE
> Station: K3DNE
>
> Class: Single Op HP
> QTH: SC
> Operating Time (hrs): 22
>
> Summary:
> Band QSOs Mults
> -------------------
> 6: 389 127
> 2: 33 14
> -------------------
> Total: 422 141 Total Score = 59,502
>
> Club: Swamp Fox Contest Group
>
>
> Comments:
>
> Thank goodness for 6m - the magic band and SSB or else this would have
> been another boring point and click digital contest. The Sunday
> morning/early
> afternoon opening to VE1, VE2, VE3, New England and mid-Atlantic and a
> little into OH was epic on SSB (although not as good as last year). N1MM
> rate meter hit 300 q's/hr for 1 minute, 204/hr for 10 minutes and 152/hr
> for 60 minutes! That was fun! I did work some DX, an EA on SSB, the rest
> (EA,CT,F,EA8,PJ,6Y,HK,CO,TI) on FT8/FT4. Unfortunately, for me, the
> sporadic E opening was spotty to the west with no double-hop to the west
> coast.
>
> Due to the excellent 6m openings, 2m was not very active on any mode and I
> spent less time on 2m than anticipated. Not uncommon in a June contest.
>
> My love/hate (more hate than love) relationship with FT8 continues. 25% of
> my QSO's were on FT8/4/MSK144 - if not for the 6m SSB opening that % would
> probably be 75% or more (yuk). It serves a purpose - I'm sure I wouldn't
> have been able to work the DX without it - but at what price? I'm not sure
> how many (dozens) of attempts where I was not able to complete a FT8 QSO
> due to QRM on 50.313. Many of the stations I was attempting to complete
> with responded to a different station with a similar signal strength level.
> I only made 4 QSO's on FT4. Where is all the FT4 activity and why is that
> mode so ignored? One comment I read on 3830 complained FT8 is just toooo
> slooow for a contest mode (I agree). I also tried (and failed) making any
> DX Q's on 50.323 - only got 1 decode there. Several times I tried to
> arrange skeds (via ON4KST chat or phone) on 2m with stations in the
> mid-Atlantic but was told that due to the FT8 QRM on .174 not to bother.
>
> I'm still advocating for a Legacy (SSB,CW,FM only), Digital only and Mixed
> Mode (Legacy Plus Digital which would allow 2 QSO's one on phone/cw and one
> on digital on the same band) categories to be added (like the ARRL 10m
> contest) to the ARRL VHF contests.
>
> 6m: FTDX101D, Quadra amp (500w digital, 1KW SSB/CW) new homebrew 4
> elements on 12ft boom via Yagi-Cad at 30ft and KIO Hexbeam (2el) at 50ft.
>
> 2m: FT1000MPMKV, Kuhne xvtr, Lunar Link Amp (750w digital, 1KW SSB) 12 el
> M2 at 23ft.
>
> Recently acquired 2'nd AB577 rocket-launcher is waiting for a professional
> tree service to remove several 100ft pines to make room and get the VHF+
> antennas a little higher
>
> N1MM+ logger (still needs further integration with wsjt-x, computer and
> soundcard and rigs). Couldn't get 2m MSK144 to decode - ugh.
>
> 73,
> Ed K3DNE
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>
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