[CQ-Contest] CQ-Contest Digest, Vol 141, Issue 17

[Hank Greeb]

Shucky durn - Maybe the malaise isn't the Sprint itself, but the lack of 
leadership in the contest clubs?  I've been one of the first (sometimes 
THE first) in a contest club in which I'm a member, to ask "Is anyone 
going to organize teams for the XXXX Contest which is coming up in the 
next week (or couple weeks)"?   Since I run QRP with a very modest 
antenna, I'm not inclined to organize teams.

The exception is the few times I've solicited the QRP crowd to join the 
NAQP CW where there's a 100 watt power limit, and 5 watts doesn't suffer 
as much from ERP limitations.   Yes, once I even solicted some 15 QRP 
ops who operated with rigs designed by Steven Weber, KD1JV, and most of 
them fit inside Altoids Tins.  We did a fair to middlin' job with these 
rigs.  I managed as surprising number of Q's (to me, at least) with 3 
watts and a early version which ran only 40 and 20 meters.

Why doesn't each contest club have a "activities chair person" who 
volunteers to watch the contest calendar and solicit people to be in 
teams.  He/She wouldn't need to be THE person to solicit teams - these 
persons could be solicited by the "activities chair person" for each 
major contest where teams are allowed.

Or, maybe the "Sprint format" is getting old and boring.  The same "big 
guns" typically win the trophies or wallpaper, so maybe this discourages 
newcomers who don't think they stand a chance.  Or, maybe we're all 
getting older and more crotchety.   How often have you seen more than 
one or two new members pop into YOUR favorite contest club in a calendar 
year?   Why don't we have chatter about these new members?  Why don't we 
have "member get a member" incentives or "honor roll" for people who 
find he most suckers.... errr... new members?  Should we have a "rookie" 
award (at least a certificate) for the highest score of a newcomer to 
the NCJ contests?    Or, maybe the "rookie award" could include folks 
who have participated for their first two (or three or ???) NA-Sprints - 
because the first attempt at sprinting can be truly daunting?

If we all sit around and only p... and moan about lack of participation, 
we'll REALLY and TRULY be on a death spiral for the Sprint type of contest.

72/73 de n8xx Hg
QRP >99.44% of the time

On 9/16/2014 10:15 AM, cq-contest-request at contesting.com wrote:
> That sure was a pretty bad SSB Sprint!