If they really wanted to increase activity, they should subsidize anyone
who wants to operate a rover (tongue in cheek). That is about the only
way we are going to get any activity. One of the problems with VHF, et
al, other than contesting, is you sit around for months and sometimes
years waiting for an opening. It might last a few hours and that is the
end of the story. Living in a high traffic area like the NE USA is
great during a contest but like operating CB the rest of the time. Most
guys like the thrill of the hunt, not a ragchew. And it IS expensive to
be competitive. Unlike HF where a tri-bander makes you competitive with
about anyone as long as you have propagation, that is far from the case
on V/U. Long boom antennas, preamps, heliax, esoteric radios and
transverters. It adds up fast. We should do everything possible to get
more rovers out there. That is the only hope.
Steve, N4JQQ, EM55bd
On 2/9/2014 3:33 PM, Les Rayburn wrote:
I've worked in advertising and marketing most of my adult life, so I
often tend to view things as marketing problems. In the case of
VHF/UHF weak signal operation, I certainly think that is a portion of
the problem. When the VUCC Award was created, it resulted in a flurry
of activity on the bands, expeditions to rare grids, and other
activity. While it wasn't very successful in attracting newcomers to
the band, it did give those already active incentive to increase their
operations.
Fast forward almost thirty years, and the situation is reversed.
Nearly everyone who wants to earn VUCC has already done so.
The league has failed to ever make VUCC anything more than the kid
sister of DXCC. They've failed to add "variations" of the award such
as 5 Band VUCC, or "Rover VUCC" that might encourage more activity.
They've failed to offer merchandise in their store to build the VUCC
"brand" among hams. Very few articles have been written in QST about
the exploits of people trying to earn the award. (Not true in the
early days, but certainly now)
In short, the ARRL has missed the opportunity to make VUCC a desirable
accomplishment for most amateurs. And provide no incentive to earn the
award on multiple bands, which is key to providing an incentive for
operation on 902 and up. I've been trying to find time to author a
paper for the VHF Conferences that would formally propose the creation
of two new awards:
Five Band VUCC
--------------------------------------------
A special award recognizing any amateur who earned VUCC on five bands
or more including satellites. No rules changes, and only minor
programming required to have LoTW track the award.
VUCC Rover
-----------------------------------------
An award for any rover who worked the required number of grids for
each band, while operating outside their "home" station grid. For
example, you'd need to work 100 grids on 6 & 2 while operating outside
your home grid. But only five to earn it on 10 GHz.
The key to making these awards successful would be to really market
and promote them, especially in the pages of QST. While I'm not in
favor of resetting everyone to zero, the league could offer a special
incentive to anyone who works the necessary grids in the coming
calendar year. Maybe plaques would be in order. I'm willing to sponsor
ten of them, personally.
This would have the same effect of "resetting to zero" for anyone who
wanted the plaques, while still allowing for those who have already
earned 5 Band VUCC or Rover VUCC to receive the award.
While I applaud the efforts that many of us have made as individuals
to increase activity, it's hard to imagine real change unless the ARRL
gets behind the effort.
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