Hi Rick,
The 2 caveats that I see in having separate CW/SSB and Digital "weekends"
of the contests are that:
1. The big multi-op stations who mount a large-scale mountaintop effort
(think W2SZ) will not be able to (or willing) to assemble their stations
for 2 weekends let alone one weekend. This will dilute the number of
available stations to work on each of the weekends.
2. When will we be able to schedule these weekends? June has a rather full
contest calendar (plus graduations, and other family stuff), and an
additional weekend in September might be tough with the kids back to
school, and family stuff- and let's not forget football season.
The solution I always thought would work is allowing stations to make
contacts on an analog mode AND a digital mode on each band. Hopefully this
will encourage stations to leave FT8 when conditions are good, and pick up
a mic or a key.
And you're right- the cheese has definitely been moved! It's a new game out
there folks. I remember when I was first licensed I could effectively
contest using a 5W FM handheld and a 5/8 wave 2m whip on the car. When the
FM tri-band Kenwood mobiles were popular you could easily move stations
from 144 to 220 and 432 and it was lots of fun using FM only (think late
90's early 2000's.) I stepped away from contesting and most ham stuff in
the early 00's because life got in the way, and boy was I surprised to find
very little FM activity when I returned to VHF contesting in the 2019 June
contest.
We do have to realize that it's not going to go back to how it was then,
and I'm all for embracing new technology and newer operators, but at heart
I'm a phone contester, and that's where I find the fun factor is, but we do
need to adapt.
73,
-Paul N1SFE
On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 11:26 AM Rick R <rick1ds@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Here's a thought—Even hours analog, Odd hours digital
> Or perhaps having an analog-only contest and a digital-only contest as has
> been suggested many times. Rick K1DS
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* newsvhf-bounces@mailman.qth.net <newsvhf-bounces@mailman.qth.net>
> on behalf of Paul Bourque <pbourque@gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 17, 2024 11:18 AM
> *To:* k1ep@arrl.net <k1ep@arrl.net>
> *Cc:* Terry Price <terry@directivesystems.com>; News group mailing list <
> newsvhf@mailman.qth.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [NEWSVHF] Dave and Fred and all
>
> A couple of years ago, I posted in Contest Update and recommended that
> stations call CQ and look for CW/SSB QSOs at the top and bottom of each
> hour. Of course, what really helps here is that some of the bigger gun
> stations get on and call CQ. Maybe we should make this a thing- similar to
> how K1WHS is helping bring back life to 222. But we need to get more
> stations on board for this to work. I'm not anti digital modes, but I
> really find it more enjoyable to work stations on phone (working on my CW
> skills, but not anywhere near ready for prime time with that.)
>
> This past contest, I was focussed on 6 meters because I'm so close to
> getting my VUCC on 6 and that was my goal for this contest. I only heard
> one station calling CQ on SSB (W2EA), which I had already worked. The CQs
> from my little gun station went unanswered. But I tried- I didn't make a
> single contact on SSB as my time was being wasted sitting there calling CQ
> to an empty band. BTW- my goal for getting closer to VUCC was successful-
> I'm sitting at 99 confirmed grids right now- and hoping that a couple of
> stations that I worked confirm for my 100th grid.
>
> In June, I roved to 3 sites in FN31, FN32 and FN42- (SSB/FM only). When I
> was in FN32- basically in W2SZs backyard, I was expecting to hear them on
> all three bands I had (6, 2, 432)- but they were suspiciously absent from
> SSB and FM. I did catch them calling CQ on 446.0 when I was driving down
> the hill from my FN42 location. I thought for sure I'd hear them on phone
> being so close to them. In years past, W2SZ was my "beacon" during
> contests- it was a sure bet that I'd get them in the log every contest.
>
> I'm really looking forward to any suggestions on how we can breathe some
> life back into CW and voice (SSB, FM, AM..) during the VHF contests.
>
> 73,
> -Paul N1SFE
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 10:23 AM Ed Parish <k1ep.list@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > If all of us abandon CW and SSB, then everyone will be on FT8. We still
> > need to call CQ on CW and SSB and make some activity there. It was
> > disheartening at tines to tune from 50.125 to 50.200 and not hear a
> single
> > SSB signal during the contest.
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 09:44 Terry Price <terry@directivesystems.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I don't "care" for digital modes either but I have worked folks on FT8
> > that
> > > I could not work on cw so it does have it's place. As a contester, you
> > have
> > > to go where the activity is, do I wish there was more cw/SSB, heck yes
> > but
> > > it is what it is.
> > >
> > > ANY VHF & up activity is welcome, hell I'll work you on FM or AM if
> > > necessary !!!
> > >
> > > Terry Price - W8ZN
> > > Directive Systems and Engineering
> > > 703-754-3876
> > >
>
>
>
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