[CQ-Contest] Follow Haynie's lead.

[Ford Peterson]

I like the tone of the recent posts on getting things accomplished.  It's
like a breath of fresh air.

Jim Haynie was re-elected at the same controversial board meeting.  He has
publicly pledged to make Home Land Security a priority.  I have an idea that
will add challenge, excitement, fresh contesting recruits, and media
coverage to contesting....

During a recent hamfest in Mpls, Jim spoke of issues confronting the ARRL
and hamdom head-on.  Serious stuff.  Big money chasing after the ham bands,
the need to impress the FCC with our RF prowess, legislative matters, etc.
An empty treasury was mentioned from time-to-time.  Shrinking ham population
is a chronic problem that we have failed to adequately address.  And on, and
on...

He told a story about security concerns that can become the focus of our
attention.  The government is concerned about computer viruses that are so
powerful, they could cripple the nation.  They lay dormant inside the
computer and can be triggered by sinister means.  Once triggered, they
render the computer worthless.  While the government is aware of these and
other threats, solutions are few.

The ARRL was contacted to solicit support for a radio network designed to
deliver anti-virus definitions (and god knows what else) across the nation.
Once delivered, the software would be used to scrub infected computers and
bring them back on-line.  That's one scenerio.  A thermo nuclear device
delived to NY, LA, etc., is another emergency scenerio.  Now on to my
point...

Design a contest that provides the basis for emergency communications
training.  Field day is one such excercise that grabs big applause from the
home land security types.  Turnout for field day is big but the number of
logs submitted is limited.  And the traffic handled is elementary.  In a
real disaster, the traffic is a list of dead and injured, supply orders,
etc.

Real emergencies are never planned.  This contest won't be either.  The
schedule will be determined by a range of dates (e.g. 11/1/xx to 3/31/yy).
Ask Mr. Powell to issue a press release (in real life you hear about
disaster via media--this makes a good simulation)  to all media (CNN, NBC,
CBS, ABC, FOX, etc.) on a Friday or Saturday noon of his choosing.  The
press release would state something like: "All US radio amateurs are
instructed to begin their emergency training exercise today at 02:00 UTC
until 06:00 UTC."   Just think of the press.  Imagine all the questions you
will get at work.  Imagine all the local media trying to pick up on a local
story.  The "rubber hits the road" when the excitement surrounding
contesting gains momentum.

Teams would collect QSOs on the air.  Individual team logs would be
assembled by each station and delivered to a designated team member who
would deliver the log information to one of several collection points.  An
AMTOR mode would be the mode of choice for final delivery and possibly for
the entire contest.  Final score would be driven by the number of QSOs in
the log and the time delivered to the collection point.  Multiple
submissions throughout the evening would be encouraged to add to the
excitement.  No log entries are allowed after 06:00Z but log collections can
continue until complete--up to 30 days.  Final results would be tallied and
delivered to Mr. Powell on Monday morning.  This would impress the FCC,
congress, and the home land security folks.

Sign me up for a team slot on this one guys.  Let's follow Haynie's lead.

So what do you think?  I admit the details are rough but you get the idea.
Give Haynie some meat to deliver to the Washington folks.  Contesting may
even lose it's "hobby" classification.  Ham radio may lose a bit of it's
"amateur" status in the eyes of the press.

Ford-N0FP
ford at cmgate.com


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