I've refrained from joining the fray of "it's all about me and what I want"
comments.
What works for one person may not work at all for others, herein lies the
conundrum.
I'll be operating Analog-Only. My goal is to work 500+ Q's on CW and SSB only.
My advice - Get on the air this weekend and take a break from the email.
More chair time on air creates bigger scores and more activity for everyone.
73 Ron WZ1V
----- Original Message -----
From: kim peck via NEWSVHF <newsvhf@mailman.qth.net>
To: "'Paul Bourque'" <pbourque@gmail.com>
Cc: newsvhf@mailman.qth.net
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2025 23:07:32 -0500
Subject: Re: [NEWSVHF] VHF Contests - Analog, Digital
> Paul,
Perhaps "segregation" is not the best answer.
What is clear: is that without some changes, VHF contesting will devolve to be
FTX only. Analog log entries are at a new low and continue to decline. The
activity on higher bands (above 2m) is in decline as well, and FTX has been
accused of being the cause. I have seen the numbers and the situation is even
worse than I thought. There may be some plateau at a very low level, by some
"die hard" individuals, but it would not be sustainable (people die or move
on).
The various sponsors of low band (analog) contests have chosen to keep FTX out
of those activities. The SNR advantage caused FTX to be allowed into VHF
contesting, but the automation is intolerable (in the context of a contest). I
think some compromise would be possible (not throw the baby out with the bath
water).
IF a compromise is not reached, one of 2 things will occur. 1) FTX will be
excluded from the 3 VHF ARRL contests (making many operators unhappy). OR 2)
Analog operation will slowly (or not so slowly) disappear from those contests
and they will look very different. Log entries on higher bands will evaporate.
The exception to this is probably the "220 and up" contest.
This will have many ill effects outside of contesting.
One underlying theme to most contests is incentive. Field day for example,
encourages emergency preparedness. The underlying theme to VHF contests has
always been: to promote new technologies and techniques. The bulk of this has
previously been focused on promoting activity on higher bands (band multipliers
in contests). One terrible effect of FTX is that it removes any incentive to
operate on higher bands. There is little incentive to use CW as well.
What does FTX encourage ?
You may not think segregation is the right answer, but one way or another, it
will probably happen anyway.
73,
KP (WA1PBU)
P.s. check out this historical view at
https://www.w9smc.com/old/SMC%20VHF/Record%20Notes.PDF good stuff.
-----Original Message-----
From: newsvhf-bounces@mailman.qth.net [mailto:newsvhf-bounces@mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Paul Bourque
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2025 4:09 PM
To: Bob Bownes
Cc: newsvhf@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [NEWSVHF] VHF Contests - Analog, Digital
I?m not speaking in any official capacity as the ARRL Contest Manager, but I
wanted to add my 2 cents. The VHF contesting community is a very small subset
of active hams, and segregating the SSB/CW operators from the digital operators
is not a good idea. My personal opinion is that It will make the activity level
in the analog weekends just abysmal (as if it isn?t
already.)
The digital operators should be encouraged to ALSO operate in contests using
the analog modes, not just be given their own sandbox to play in. We need to
find a way to make all modes be enjoyable for all participants.
Secondly, are big multiop stations like W2SZ going to want to set up their
stations on 2 weekends in June and September? That?s a lot of effort and
manpower. Let?s face it, we?re all not getting any younger! I know I wouldn?t
want twice the work in each of those contests. For that matter, will a bigger
fixed station like K1TEO or W8ZN want to be on the air in 2 separate weekends
in both January, June and September? (Jeff and Terry- will you?)
When will we schedule these separate contests? Look at WA7BMN?s Contest
Calendar and see just how packed every month is.
I for one think we should allow contacts on SSB/CW and digital to count for
points, not just one contact per station per band.
I was introduced to VHF contesting in the mid 90?s and loved it. I have a lot
more fun in VHF contests on the voice modes, and further reduction in analog
activity will likely see me participating less and less.
As a low power operator who has to set up at locations not at home, I find it
way too much effort to set up 4 bands to only make a handful of contacts on
phone. It?s getting to be just too much work for such little gain.
For example, I?ll likely not be participating in January VHF because I find
NAQP SSB way more fun, and I can do it from my shack and not freeze on some
hilltop somewhere.
I?d personally like to see how the activity plays out in CQ VHF this year with
the split mode contests before just making a knee-jerk reaction and changing
the ARRL events. Additionally, the CQ contests have also changed the start
time, and made it a 24 hour contest, which I think is a bad idea, especially
for a ?worldwide? contest.
Again, the views expressed in this email are those of my own, and not of my
employer.
73,
Paul N1SFE
On Sun, Jan 12, 2025 at 3:00 PM Bob Bownes <bownes@gmail.com> wrote:
> My knee-jerk reaction is that asking to split our three major contest
> into six will not be received well by the league as it doubles the
> workload. But it?s worth putting on the table.
>
> > On Jan 12, 2025, at 13:44, CHRIS FAGAS via NEWSVHF <
> newsvhf@mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> >
> > ?Further to our January 4th meeting where we discussed the ongoing
> Analog/Digital challenge to VHF Contests, I just noticed that the 2025
> CQ World Wide VHF Contest has just been SPLIT into two (2) separate Contests.
> The ANALOG (SSB/CW) VHF Contest will be July 5/6, 2025, and the
> DIGITAL
> (FT-x) VHF Contest will be July 19/20, 2025. Furthermore, CQ has
> additionally published the future dates for their now two (2) annual
> VHF Contests in 2026, 2027, and 2028.
> >
> > https://cqww-vhf.com/
> >
> > As we consider alternative approaches for bringing back activity to
> > the
> Analog modes for the three (3) ARRL VHF Contests, what CQ has done
> with their VHF Contest is a very good data point, and an example that
> should be referenced in our own recommendation. In my personal
> opinion, making the three (3) annual ARRL VHF Contests into six (6)
> annual ARRL VHF Contests, where Digital Ops can maintain three per
> year and Analog Ops can maintain three per year, might be the most
> compelling solution. To be sure, it gets us out of cherry picking
> whether January, June, or September should change, and then how it should
> change.
> > 73, Chris WB2VVV
> > ______________________________________________________________
> > NEWSVHF mailing list
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/newsvhf
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> > Post: mailto:NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net
> >
> > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this
> > email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> NEWSVHF mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/newsvhf
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email
> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
______________________________________________________________
NEWSVHF mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/newsvhf
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
______________________________________________________________
NEWSVHF mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/newsvhf
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|