[SECC] Club Participation in SS (pretty long)

[Larry Hammel K5OT]

This has been a great discussion about improving club participation and
increasing scores.  Let me add my $0.02 from some past experiences that
might generate additional thoughts.  These comments will focus on
SWEEPSTAKES, but could be applied more globally to other contests.

I was a member of the North Texas Contest Club during their long string of
Medium club SS gavels  during the 1980's and early 90's.  The NTCC held
monthly meetings for about 8 months a year, and generally attendance was
poor.  However, the October meeting was the 'big one' of the year that
everyone looked forward to.  There was some minor "who's-doing-what for
CQWW" chatter, but most of this meeting was focused on Sweepstakes. [Let me
interject that I really prefer the SECC approach on meetings ... and this
reflector and other net resources really work great for discussion and
learning!]

The NTCC Sweepstakes presentation was divided into two parts.  The first
part was a moderated discussion that focused on operating tips, band
strategy, when to take off-times, improving your chances of snagging tough
sections, QRP techniques, etc.  One year when I led the discussion, I put
together a SS checklist of suggestions for score improvement - which was a
compilation of a few prior presentations - plus some lengthy discussions
with experienced SS top-performers from the general area - like N5TJ, NM5M,
WX0B, K5NA, K5GA, and others.

I'll see if I can dig up a copy of one of those handouts around here ... it
would need to be updated for current two-radio techniques and tweaked for
operation from the southeast.  I think NCJ had a pretty good article on the
subject a year or two ago too. Anyone remember it?

The second part of the SS program at NTCC meetings was led by the
'arm-twister' ... usually (but not always) the Club President.  He'd go
around the room asking each attendee for their commitment for both CW and
Phone scores - and write them on the board.  If he didn't like the number,
he might arbitrarily increase the pledge a bit - which generated a LOT of
friendly discussion.  Members who weren't there were contacted one-on-one by
telephone during the next few days for encouragement.

Let me summarize a few points that stand out to me:

1.  Encourage participation in BOTH MODES ... get the CW ops to find a mike
for the 2nd weekend and get on the air, if only for a few QSOs.  Likewise,
get the folks who prefer phone to also get on during the CW weekend - even
if they just stay high in the band and send QRS a lot. It takes broad
participation by both regular and not-so-regular club members to keep the
club numbers rising each year.  And it doesn't hurt for someone to confirm
that everyone has submitted their log before the deadline either.

2.  Encourage competition WITHIN the club.  Find ways to highlight
individual achievements, like personal best scores, most-improved
performance, quickest sweep, highest combined CW/SSB scores by class, etc.
Consider a traveling trophy or two (the goofier, the better) for certain
wacky achievements.  Divide up the club roster among a few regulars to make
sure EVERYONE on the list is called by telephone (or Emailed, although phone
is better in this sole instance) for some personal contact.

3.  Make sure everyone that wants to operate has a STATION to operate.  Keep
a list of area DXers or other non-contest ops that would let someone come
over for SS.  I've seen this technique actually get the station owner
involved the contest himself during the next year!

4.  Compile and distribute a 'CONTEST HINTS' summary, with suggestions
geared to help the newcomer as well as the more experienced op. Some people
create pre-contest checklists to make sure that all mechanical & electrical
things are working correctly before the test.  In a similar way, the
'strategic hints' list would provide some good mental reminders for
operating techniques that might have been overlooked.  Tap the wealth of
info of the many great ops within this club for their suggestions - and
document them.  (Might take a bit of prying in some cases!)

5.  Use SS-Phone as a M/S TRAINING opportunity for those who don't want to
do the test by themselves.  I know W4AN and others have done this quite
successfully in the past.  Unlike Field Day, SS is a real contest, there is
a significant exchange that requires accuracy, and there are no mosquitoes!

6. Continue to fully utilize this REFLECTOR (and SECC web-site?) for pre and
post-contest discussions.  You can't beat the timeliness or coverage ... and
there's no pesky traffic to fight on the way to some meeting that most won't
be able to attend anyway.  There must be other  creative ways to use the
web-site to further improve club scores.  I'll leave that discussion the web
gurus in the group.

I've used up my 2 cents, plus at least another quarter.  Thanks for hanging
in there.  Your thoughts?

73,
Larry K5OT















































































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