[CQ-Contest] CD party nostalgia

[Pete Smith]

I agree with most of Leigh's commentary, but we should give ARRL credit for
inventing the IARU HF Contest in 1986, and for support of the WRTC.  Their
take-over of NCJ probably prevented its going under, and the subsequent
upgrade was surely a step in the right direction.

I noted with interest that the ARRL Board has directed that QST must now
have 176 pages per issue (it sometimes falls 10-15 pages short of that).
Surely this is an opportunity for the writers among us to make a splash for
contesting, by writing about contesting for the general audience.  A
full-up article on WRTC 2000 would be a great place to start.

On the general topic of cross-over events, I think we have to acknowledge
that Field Day remains the premier vehicle for introducing our sport to
others, even if that sometimes seems to happen contrary to ARRL HQ's
wishes.  Wouldn't it be nice if ARRL started giving certificates to
operators of winning groups, instead of insisting "it isn't a contest?"
Closer to home, what are we doing to use Field Day for "talent-spotting,"
following up with interested non-contesters to bring them into contest
clubs, involve them in multi-ops, etc.

A final thought -- I read that many contesters spend very little time on
the air outside contests.  Recently, I have spent some time on the air
nearly every day working DX stations.  I try to answer CQs from people I've
never worked before, most of whom barely move my s-meter.  Encouraging ops
with minimal stations by generating QSOs and QSLs is surely an easy thing
for us to do.     

73, Pete Smith N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database 
is back up and running at
http://www.qsl.net/n4zr 



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