I just completed (finally) compiling the results for the Alabama FM Simplex
Contest for September of 2009. Certificates were mailed to the winners and
runner-ups in each category today.
This was the third such FM-Sprint event that we incorporated within the larger
ARRL VHF Contests. Participation this year included 31 logs submitted, and over
100 unique callsigns who participated across the state. Not bad for a very
small event running for only the third time.
Our event runs for four hours during the late afternoon on Saturday. The theory
behind the time of the event is to take advantage of a normally slow period of
a contest when local contacts have been made, and evening enhancement hasn't
quite started. Our hope is that weak signal operators would switch to FM during
this time, and log some new QSO's and hand out some long range contacts to get
newcomers excited. That part of the plan seems to be working.
We have five basic categories; Fixed stations, portable, mobile, HT, and EMCOMM
Group. We encourage our ARES Emergency Coordinators to involve their members,
and also award certificates to EC's who turn in the highest score per county.
Runner ups get wallpaper too to further encourage folks to give it a try.
The results were interesting. Of the 31 entries received, 28 were from fixed
stations. This despite my personally working several mobiles and HTs during the
time period. For some reason, these stations just didn't submit logs.
Many stations reported working four or more grids on 2 Meter FM, with our
longest QSO being over 300 miles.
We award higher points for contacts on 440 and 222 to try to encourage more
activity on those bands. This is helped by a lot of EMCOMM usage of 222 in
parts of Alabama, so more than a few guys have FM rigs for this band.
For the June event, I hope to encourage the use of 50.525 FM Simplex, raising
the possibility of exposing newcomers to some real DX if the band is open. I
think Technicians would be thrilled to work out to 700-800 miles or more on
their multi-band HT's or Icom 706s. Here's hoping the Magic Band opens up
during the Sprint.
So far, I've only managed to convert a couple of these FM guys to try weak
signal modes, but at least one of them is going to be on in June in a big way
on 6, 2, and 432 SSB. He also has 222 FM, so we may have a true convert on our
hands.
We also demonstrated 10GHz at Field Day last year, and I'm planning a program
on Meteor Scatter for the local club for May.
Promoting FM Contesting likely isn't the answer to growing our ranks, but it
does help over time. This is only our third event, and each one has produced at
least one casual weak-signal operator, and now a new "hard-core" VHF Man. More
than worth the effort in my book.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf
Grid Bandit #222
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