When I knew the ARRL Board was trying to decide what to do, I made my views
known to Tom Frenaye, K1KI, the NE Divsion Director. At this point, I intend
to look at the results over about a half year's time, and make my views known
again. If I feel that QST has met the goal of making better use of the pages
than contest line scores -- especially in the contesting area -- I will let Tom
(and Dan) know that I am pleased. If not, I will let them know what changes I
think would make the writeups better. Fortunately, Tom and Dan have both been
very good about knowing when I am wearing my HQ Lab hat and when I am wearing
my member hat.
Until a few issues under the new "style" are out, I won't know for sure whether
I like the changes. But I think it best that I actually see what it turns out
like before I decide whether I like it or not. :-)
I am only sub'ed to the VHF@w6yx.stanford.edu reflector, so Tom, if you would
like my post to appear on the others, you will have to forward them.
Understand, these are my PERSONAL views and do not represent ARRL policy. Dan
Henderson is quite capable of speaking for himself. :-)
73,
Ed Hare, W1RFI
ARRL Lab
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111
Tel: 860-594-0318
Internet: w1rfi@arrl.org
Web: http://www.arrl.org/tis
> -----Original Message-----
> From: KA0TP@aol.com [mailto:KA0TP@aol.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2002 12:14 AM
> To: Henderson, Dan N1ND; vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu
> Cc: vhfcontesting@contesting.com; microwave@wa1mba.org
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL ...VHF/UHF Awards and Contesting...
>
>
> Publicity is definitely the key. I have been pushing the
> VHF contest in
> the Portland area since I discovered VHF contesting 2 years
> ago. There are a
> LOT of people who have no idea when the VHF contests are or
> even that there
> is such a thing. I also push for those without SSB gear to
> try on FM simplex.
> We get a lot of new hams trying it oout on FM then. In June
> we even had
> pileups on FM simplex. So more publicity is definitely
> required which means
> more news in QST.
>
> Tom Popp
> KAØTP
> Clackamas, Clackamas County, Oregon CN85
> KA0TP@aol.com
>
>
> In a message dated 10/7/02 8:38:35 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> w4rx@starpower.net writes:
> << Hi Dan,
> Thanks for the interest and the effort to survey for ideas. I have
> downloaded the survey and will complete it as requested.
> However, the problem does not lie with the rules. There is
> a hard core of
> contesters who enjoy the VHF contests and the chance they
> give (through a
> high level of activity) to really see what the propagation
> can do. This
> group will continue to be active regardless of rules
> changes. Rule changes
> will not bring in the casual operators. The only way to increase the
> activity is to reach out to the casual operator, by publicizing what
> attracts others to the contests. The way to do this is
> definitely NOT to
> take the results and announcements out of QST. The casual
> operators will
> NOT access the contest results on the web site - they have
> no reason to,
> since they are not yet participating. Financial pressures
> notwithstanding,
> the only way to give the average VHF operator the incentive
> to participate
> in the contests is to expose him to the contests in the only ARRL
> publication he reads, which is QST. Content in QST is more
> important than
> color spreads.
>
> Wishing you success.
>
> 73,
>
> Jim
> W4RX
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Henderson, Dan N1ND" <dhenderson@arrl.org>
> To: "cq-contest" <cq-contest@contesting.com>; "VHF Contesting.com"
> <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>; "VHF List" <vhf@w6yx.Stanford.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 3:17 PM
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] ARRL Membership Services Committee
> VHF/UHF Awards
> and Contest Survey
>
>
> ARRL VHF/UHF Contesting and Awards Survey
>
> NEWINGTON, CT -- October 7, 2002
>
> With a higher proportion of VHF-only licensees than ever
> before, one might
> expect that VHF/UHF contesting would be experiencing a surge
> in popularity.
> To the contrary, while the total QSOs being made in the
> multi-band contests
> seems steady, the number of logs - and thus the number of serious
> participants - has fallen off considerably since 1996. This
> has led the ARRL
> to ask you for your thoughts on why this might be happening
> and how to best
> address and reverse the trend. We'd also like to hear from
> you about the
> ARRL VHF/UHF awards program in general.
>
>
> The survey is the result of a request from the ARRL Board to
> look into ways
> to increase participation. It is being sent to a random
> sample of regular
> top-scorers and average participants, regardless of their
> score, plus clubs
> that regularly participate in VHF/UHF club competitions. Our
> interest is in
> gathering information we can use to improve the
> participation and quality of
> both the various ARRL VHF/UHF contests and the ARRL VHF/UHF
> awards programs.
> The detail and quality of information in your answers is especially
> important to us.
>
>
> The Survey -
>
> The survey is organized into several areas of inquiry. The
> first group deals
> exclusively with contesting:
>
> Existing contests - how can their formats, rules, or
> reporting be improved
> such that activity and log submissions are increased? This
> survey refers to
> the following ARRL sponsored contests: January VHF
> Sweepstakes, June &
> September VHF QSO Parties, August UHF Contest, 10 GHz and Up
> competition,
> and the Oct/Nov EME Contest
>
> New contest formats - are there new formats that would be
> attractive to the
> existing contest community?
>
> New participants - what improvements or additions to VHF/UHF
> contesting
> would attract more operators to the sport? How can these operators be
> reached?
>
>
> A second area of interest is the ARRL VHF/UHF awards program
> and increasing
> the level of interest and participation. The existing awards
> such as VUCC,
> WAS, and DXCC, are derivatives of the HF awards program.
> There is some
> concern that these awards either have too high an initial
> qualification
> level or may be missing some interests of VHF/UHF operators.
> There are two
> groups of questions:
>
> Existing awards - how can their rules or categories might be
> improved so
> that more activity is encouraged?
>
> New awards - are there new award programs that would be attractive to
> VHF/UHF operators?
> Responding
>
>
> Each topic has a series of questions related to either
> VHF/UHF contesting or
> awards. Please select the answer that best matches your position or
> situation. Please feel free to extend your remarks (use
> additional pages if
> necessary). Your detailed comments are very important.
>
> The survey is downloadable as an Adobe Acrobat file on the web at
> http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/vhf-survey.pdf
>
> It should be completed and returned by regular mail to:
> VHF/UHF Survey,
> attn: Wayne Mills, N7NG, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington CT
> 06111. We would
> like to have the returned surveys by October 31st. You may
> copy the blank
> survey and distribute it to other amateurs, particularly to
> operators that
> may not be active in VHF/UHF contesting now. A summary of
> the results will
> be available in the future.
>
> Thanks and 73
>
> Dan Henderson, N1ND
> ARRL Contest Branch Manager
>
> >>
>
>
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