Based on the quote I referenced yesterday from CQ magazine, here are some ideas
I can think of for why 2 meter contesting activity is declining, if in fact it
is. I know that CQ and QST probably base their results on logs submitted,
which is only part of the picture, but my experience on 2 meters during
contesting time seems to support that assertion, although a change in QTH in
2001 didn't help either. If nothing else, we aren't seeing the growth in 2
meter SSB activity that you would expect to see given how easy and cheaply you
can get on 6/2/70cm today with the FT100/857/897/IC706 radios out there.
I think the main driving force behind the possible decline is the availability
of those radios combined with the lowering of test requirements and difficulty
(although CQ magazine thinks the licensing exams are getting harder). Today
many hams go out and buy a HF/VHF/UHF radio as a mobile, or starter rig. Given
the change in license requirements in 2001, it is now possible to go from
having no license at all to extra class with about 2 weeks of study. So any
ham that wants to get on HF can easily pass the general and get on HF. So
these rigs see their main action on HF, and probably on some 6 meters. The new
owner of these rigs discover that when 6 meters is open during the summer, they
can make plenty of QSOs with the HF antenna thru a tuner, or with the triband
vertical (6/2/70cm) they just stuck up. For them, they are now on VHF, and
limit the 2m and 70cm side to the local repeater, never exploring 2 meter SSB
at all.
Or there is a subgroup of these hams who do try out 2 meter SSB using the
triband vertical they just put up, and don't hear much on 2 meter SSB because
of the cross polarization loss, and lack of gain with the vertical. They then
conclude that no one is on 2 meter SSB, or that you can't talk out of the city
on 2 meter SSB, and give up on it, never realizing that the problem was their
antenna. After all, it worked just fine on 6 during the Es opening. Or if
they do put up a simple yagi, they just lack the patience for 2 meters because
6 is opening up every other day, and they go do that instead.
Also, the HF/VHF/UHF all in one rigs give people the opportunity to get on 6
meters. It used to be that the cost and availability of rigs limited most
people to adding one band at a time, since most VHF/UHF rigs were monobanders.
Most people probably started with 2 meters since you could also get on the
local repeater with your 2 meter all mode. Now you get 6/2/70cm at the same
time, and most people probably opt for 6 meter for SSB activity due to the
longer and most frequent openings. In the June and July contests most people
are going to focus on 6 if there is Eskip because the QSOs will come
quicker-and so with the mults-on 6 compared to 2.
I also think that the focus of ham radio has changed since 9/11/01. Go to your
local club meeting sometime soon. If your local club is anything like mine,
all you will hear discussed is emergency communications, APRS, and a little
public service. You will hear very little about HF communications, must less
2m SSB and VHF contesting. This is what the newcomers to ham radio are
constantly fed with, so many of them are probably ignorant of what can be done
with 2 meter SSB. I always try to teach the propagation chapters at our
licensing classes so I can tell them what can be done with the technician
license frequencies. I am doing that again this saturday. I first got
interested in 2 meter SSB after reading an article on the Sidewinders on Two
group in a ham magazine (I think it was Worldradio) around 1982. It took me
quite a few years more to get a 2 meter SSB rig, but one of my friends got one
right after that and we would do multiop contesting with it. I first got ex
posed to 6 because one of the members of a local club (Norm, now K9MGR, then
KA9MGR) was getting interested in it and he kept talking to me at meetings
about how great 6 meters was. Still it took me 10 years to get a 6 meter rig
after that.
Finally, I think some of the serious VHFers have just gone up in frequency
because of the availability of HF/VHF/UHF rigs. It is no longer a challange at
all to get on 2 meters, so they have gone back to the challange by going to the
microwaves.
Sorry for the length of this email, but I don't think the issue can be
addressed with a single sentence or 2. And these are just some possible
reasons. I am sure that there are plenty more also.
73s JOhn NE0P
EM04to
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