[CQ-Contest] Left Coast Logs of the Future?

[Fred Laun K3ZO]

People are usually incredulous when I tell them there are 175,000 hams in 
Thailand.  Why don't we hear them on the bands, I am asked.

The answer is that about 99.4% of them are VHF-only hams.  The barrier to 
upgrading, interestingly enough, is not CW so much as it is the fact that 
the guy who writes the exams for the Thai PTD makes the written exam 
top-heavy on obscure facts like what does the Z-signal ZNN stand for, etc.
So the failure rate on the written exam has been rather high.

All this may be changing as the PTD's responsibilities, under Thailand's 
new Constitution, are being taken over by a new commission similar to our 
FCC, and in the process the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand, along with 
Thailand's 75 provincial radio clubs, are being given more responsibilities 
in the license registration arena.  While this is costing the ham societies 
some bucks, it also may open the way to getting more of these folks on HF 
where they can fatten the contest logs of all of us, particularly the 
long-suffering sixes and other left-coasters.

Champ, E21EIC, along with John, HS1CHB, promoted the CQWW VHF Contest in 
Thailand this year and got quite a bit of participation.  Champ is rounding 
up the logs and helping the contestants to submit them to CQ.  He is also 
planning to propose the creation of a national VHF contest in Thailand to 
better familiarize all the VHF'ers with contesting.

Champ has copied me on his log submission messages to CQ, and I have taken 
the QSO list of just one log, that of DOMRONGSAK PATTAKARNGOVIBOON, 
HS8GLR/9, who operated the contest from Songkhla Province in Southern 
Thailand near the border with Malaysia.  Here is his list of QSOs in the 
CQWW VHF contest.  Will the left-coast logs of the future contain something 
like this?

HS9KYQ HS9LVI HS9LVY HS9LCH HS9JPM HS9IPP HS9KGW
HS9KFL HS9LLH HS9LVX HS9JRV HS9KJV HS9KTD HS8IJF
HS9FQG HS9KUW E21PC  HS8BRC HS9JEF HS9JVL HS9KJM
HS9CEY HS9LJY HS9IZF HS9LLY HS9JWW HS9LQM HS9BY
HS9KML HS9KWK HS8HTJ HS9IZV HS9JZH HS9EWQ HS9KLH
HS9LCS HS9LQR HS8HZP HS8FOX HS9JWH HS9ERT HS9IYJ
HS9LRW HS9KTY HS9AGW HS9KNB HS9LST HS9LRA HS9KXV
HS8HOA HS9CKL HS9DNV HS9LWK HS9ILT HS9LNN E20RD
HS9HRY HS9ITP HS9KLR HS9KDI HS9KLP HS9KQO HS9VK
HS9LMI HS9CAK HS9EG  HS9KDU HS9JYA HS9LLG HS9LLQ
HS9LMH HS9LWD HS6SML HS9KKQ HS9IUR HS9HDZ HS9KRE
HS9CVC HS9KRK HS9FFC HS9CLQ HS5VSY HS9KQR HS8DWY
HS9FPW HS9HXW HS9KJH HS9CUU HS9FLY HS9KAT HS9LPB
HS9GGD HS9KDT HS9LFH HS9BVF HS9KFJ HS9FOD HS9LAY
HS9JDX HS9LDO HS9HIW HS9HQT HS9INL HS9HUE HS9HPC
HS9LDH HS9GQH HS9LAE HS9GAZ HS9IGC HS9KKS HS9LPI
HS9LWR HS9JVX HS9LXK HS1AQU HS9JQQ HS9LHZ HS9LQC
HS9JZR HS9ZE  HS8FNO HS9JYW HS9LRF HS9KYB HS8KHP
HS9LTU HS9IAJ HS9IYR HS9KZY HS9IBX HS9LVV HS8LCT
HS9LVQ HS9FZ  HS9KFI HS9CFK HS9KXY HS9LVW HS8KAC
HS9KNG HS9EDW HS9FXJ HS9LRV HS9LET HS9JMO HS9LTJ
HS8KQS HS9CQB HS9LXY HS9AVD HS9CXZ HS9BKB HS8KPP
HS9LKM HS9LEZ HS9IHA HS9LEN HS9LWP HS9IPO HS8KMQ
E20LPI HS9AVE HS9CLR HS9LUM HS8GQA HS9LPG HS8JWZ
HS9HTN HS9LEV HS9INZ HS9LRT HS8IKZ HS9LXR HS8KDY
HS9LNM HS9HYQ HS9KKU HS9LFL HS9EPP HS9LUG HS9LSS
HS9PW  HS5ORL HS9ZU  HS9KTT
HS9KYG HS8JTO HS9HK  HS9KTU
HS9LVZ HS8JVH HS9APZ HS9EUZ
HS8DHH HS8KAG HS9JDX
HS9IHQ HS8KNP 9W2DD
HS9LGM HS8AIM 9W2XM
HS9LLE HS8ABS HS9JRR
HS9KOJ HS8KBS HS9ITC
HS8IBN HS8HOH HS9YE
HS8LAZ HS8KLC HS9LPV
HS8JPN HS8KZK HS9KPQ

73, Fred, K3ZO