[CQ-Contest] RE: [WSVHF] VHF Sprints

[Russ Pillsbury]

George Fremin III, mailto:geoiii at kkn.net wrote:
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] RE: [WSVHF] VHF Sprints
>
> Russ Pillsbury writes:
>
> > Sorry, although it might solve your problems, it would make the
> > sprint into an all out display of stamina for those of us who
> > live in populous areas. It would simply become a test of who
> > could make contacts the fastest, and keep it up nonstop for 4 hours.
>
> I have always been under the impression that a contest was
> designed to be just that.
>
> It sounds like you want an "activity night".

Not at all, and I don't agree that contests are designed to see who can make
nonstop contacts the fastest.  That's part of it, but skill in knowing where
and when to point the antenna, experience in knowing what to listen for, how
to dig out the weak ones, and how to maximize the chances that the other
station will hear your information correctly, and a lot of other factors go
into making a successful contest operation.

But if we had 9 or so bands to make contacts in, for just 4 hours, all that
skill would be unnecessary.  All you would have to do is contact a station
on 6 or 2 meters, run him through the bands, then contact the next station
and do the same, continuously.  You wouldn't have to bother working many
weak stations, and you'd never run out of stations to run the bands with, in
4 hours (around here). See my PS:

Now I may be exaggerating slightly, but I still don't think it would require
all that much skill to win, just energy.


> > I think a much better solution is for everyone to talk up the
> > sprints and encourage the other people in your area to get on.
> > Join or start a club and make it a club activity.  Have your
> > club issue it's own awards for participation.  Have the club help
> > get new people on the higher bands with
> > loan programs and antenna parties and club construction or purchase
> > projects.  Use the bands at other times than just contests to keep the
> > interest in those bands flowing.
>
> Yes - these are all good ideas.

Thanks, 73 - Russ K2TXB


PS: For example, I worked 154 stations on 2 meters this sprint.  The top
station in this area worked 226 q's.  If we take 150 stations, and work them
on 6 and 2, and then work half of those stations on 222 and 432, and then
work half of them on 903 and 1296, we come up with a total of 525 q's in
just 4 hours.  That's 2.2 qso's per minute including band changes, with no
time out to drink or pee!  It might be fun to do it once, but it's not my
idea of a good contest.



--
CQ-Contest on WWW:        http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests:  cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com