One thing I haven't seen mentioned in the pro/con issues of listing VHF
content participants individually, is the help these listings give in
figuring out who is on the air on a given band in a given state. I looked at
that aspect of it long before I made a commitment to buy or build equipment
for new bands.
A similar aspect is to see if people who I know have equipment for a given
band are not using it. If activity is falling on say 2304 MHz, I might go
the extra mile to contact someone before the contest to encourage them to be
on, or to help them with equipment problems, or precontest on the air
testing.
I've often described, particularly the 903 and up bands, as having a
"critical mass" problem. Until some critical distribution of people are on
the air, activity just muddles along. But once that point is reached
activity takes off, as has happened in the northeast on 10 GHz in the past
few years.
Pulling "general population hams" into VHF and above is considerably more
important today than it ever has been before. Our spectrum is valuable both
in future unknown experimentation needs, and unfortunately in "real dollars"
to the commercial users tuning across and deciding 70cm or where-ever is a
good spot for the latest gee-whiz product to operate.
Think of what the effect would have been on ham radio if 2meters had been
siezed by public service in the '60's. While we may not see it today, the
microwave bands disappearing could have unknown effects on ham radio's
viability down the road 20 years from now.
In future contest write ups the editorial challenge will be in answering
some of these questions and drawing in the casual reader who may not have
developed an interest in this vital area of our hobby.
73,
Charles Osborne, K4CSO
Brevard, NC EM85
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