Hi Joel
You ask:
> Does having a stack that can be switched by a relay to being a single
> yagi help with this? And or using omnidirectional antennas?
The problem is not only YOUR antennas but the other guys antennas. Gain
antennas in a stack that are separately rotatable or multiple separately
rotatable arrays would certainly be useful. Tree N6TR mentions a possible
solution by invoking a stack matched trio? of antennas which I suspect would
be independently rotatable. ?hat would work. Or antennas with very broad
horizontal patterns and very narrow vertical patterns like massive collinear
arrays.
Simple omnidirectional antennas would be much less useful because they just
lack the gain needed to hear weak signals in any direction. Being able to
switch from two vertically stacked horizontal yagis to one yagi would likely
be not at all useful because the horizontal directivity and narrow front
lobe would not change, just the vertical lobe. Almost no one you work has
multiple independently rotatable arrays and so it is often the case that
they will NOT be pointed at you. Similarly if you are in New England
pointed due west to work Ohio, you will likely not hear me portable in
central West Virginia. Your antenna will be 30 degrees off of me and I will
be in a primary null for you.
> What strikes me as possibly sensible would be to allow the August UHF
> contest to use internet/telephone/packet skeds, but not allow it for
> the January/June/September VHF contest. I think that good arguments
> can be made in favor of both ways of doing things, and providing
> opportunities for each approach strikes me as worthwhile.
>
> On the other hand, there's also no reason why people who want to do
> propagation experiments or whatever can't do internet/telephone/packet
> skeds during a non-contest time.
Limiting real time non-amateur use to the UHF contest could be done but this
contest has vanishingly small participation. The huge numbers of Q's run up
by one or two stations come almost completely from captive rovers who work
no one but that station(s). The reason to do this during June and September
is because that's when there is real activity in addition to the captive
rovers. Stations that everyone can work. And more importantly that's when
there are many stations who go portable from superior locations. Whether it
is a good idea or not deserves further discussion for sure.
73 Gene W3ZZ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel N. Weber II" <kb1grs-vhfcontesting@vms.gratuitous.org>
To: "Eugene Zimmerman" <ezimmerm@erols.com>
Cc: "VHF Contesting" <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 2:31 PM
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Pre-contest skeds
> My point is that VHF contests ARE different than HF contests for the
many
> reasons that others have already stated. 6 meters is a lot like 10 in
> operating practice but as Bill K1DY notes, even 2 meters is quite
different
> and the UHF/microwave bands suffer mightily from the antenna
"searchlight"
> effect. If both stations are not pointed at each other, they often
cannot
> hear each other and if either of them are not in the direction of a
> population center, the chances they will point at each other are slim.
>
> >
> A discussion like what has been going on here is a good thing. Each
> operator has to make his own choices. On HF no one forces you to use 2
> radios but if you don't you put yourself at a distinct disadvantage.
You
> don't like using two radios and growing an extra head [I don't], only
you
> can decide whether it is worth the reduction in fun to have a chance to
win.
> On VHF no one forces you to make schedules in advance if you choose not
to.
> But unlike HF contests where there are unlimited numbers of Q's/mults
to be
> had and you can never work them all, increasing the amount of activity
and
> variety of grids and pushing the propagation envelop to new distances
always
> has been part of the VHF contests and should remain so IMHO. In fact a
case
> can be made such as Clarke Greene has stated that
internet/telephone/packet
> skeds DURING the contest might also be a valuable addition.
>
>
>
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