[CQ-Contest] Contest announcements in QST

[jukka.klemola at nokia.com]

Hi,
I am contest manager for the Finnish Radio Relay
League, SRAL, and I am following this ARRL approach
of trying to lure newcomers to contesting.

I will likely try something similar, time will tell.

But truth is we need more contesters.

I would like to have more stations making close to
mid-range scores, not trying to let things fall
like they seem.

More and more people are on for just an hour or less
and that is not really satisfactory for contests.

How to improve that, I do not know.


One fact I have found is the contesters participating
actively are not the target group for these attempts
of trying to lure newcomers.
I believe already contesting individuals will accept
this point in some time.
A change is in process and changes are seldom easy.

The change in the magazine and overall information
sharing structure has to be done somehow to get the
main goal achieved.


73,
Jukka, OH6LI (in CQWW CW OH0V on 15 single)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ext John Geiger [mailto:johngeig at yahoo.com]
> Sent: 15 November, 2002 02:07
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com; vhfcontest at contesting.com
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Contest announcements in QST
> 
> 
> Got my new QST the other day, and see that they have
> removed contest rules and placed them on the internet
> instead.  Guess I also saw this in the November issue,
> but it really stood out in the most recent one.  In
> the contest rules place, they have put "contest
> announcements".  These contest announcements basically
> describe the gist of the contest, and in my opinion,
> they look like they are written for an 8 year old. 
> They have little cutsy "Why you should enter this
> contest" and "Quirks" sections.  I hope that things
> haven't degraded so far that we have to use this type
> of language to explain things to hams.  Just put the
> rules back in and get away from the touchy feely
> stuff.
> 
> They figure we are smart enough to go to the web to
> read contest announcements, but not smart enough to
> figure out why I should enter a contest.  Have you
> ever noticed that every time QST takes something out
> (contest scores, rules, section news) it usually gets
> replaced with something that looks like it was written
> for complete idiots.  Witness the "Doctor is in"
> column.  I hope these are not real questions sent in
> by readers.  If most of them are, the FCC definitely
> need to think about toughening the licensing
> requirements.
> 
> 73 John NE0P
> 
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