[SECC] Club Competition

[RJ Hubbard]

" My point is people are hungry for the basics and us experienced folk
ain't givin' em what they want" -- I think this is a great point, from my
perspective as a greenhorn contester. I've played in several contest since
I became active again in 2017 - I'm not a big gun and I can never commit to
an entire contest period due to various kids sports, family time, etc.
However, I do like to contribute - but what I dont know is how BEST to
contribute. I try to remember to file my scores under SECC but I don't
necessarily know why I'm doing it. Aside from the contest at large, I guess
I dont know what contests have club competitions so not sure when it's
IMPORTANT to ensure I am submitting under SECC.

You know what else might be cool for newer contesters - some internal club
competition. Give us something to work towards - I'm never going to win a
contest when I can only commit to 8 hours over the course of a 30 hours
contest period. Perhaps there is something I can "win" within the club? For
example, during the GAQP, I help NFARL with their 1x1 calls and I've "won"
certificates within the club like "most CW contacts" or something like
that.

So to kevan's point, maybe it's time to get back to basics - tells us newer
members & contesters why it's important, what our goal is, and then help us
figure out how to improve  our scores - If i can only operate 8 hours, help
me maximize that time (for example, I REALLY need to set up & learn how to
operate SO2R)

Please dont take this as criticism AT ALL - I'm only trying to contribute
to the discussion and provide a "newbie" persepctive

73 de RJ, WF4W

On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 7:08 AM Kevan Nason <knason00 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Not sure where you think what you wrote is criticism, Bill. Although your
> message is more elegant and positive, it is basically what I said too. A
> few years back I often posted. Looked for and encouraged the very
> discussions you say we should be having. I didn't feel there was enough
> chatter and exchange of ideas. So, after being frustrated with the lack of
> activity for a couple years I reluctantly sought greener pastures and
> shifted my energy to a club which provided what I was looking for. The very
> thing you say we need. I know for a fact from discussions with others who
> no longer participate with the SECC that I am not the Lone Ranger who led
> the exodus.
>
> You are right about momentum and Bill Fisher's death. I'm a newcomer
> compared to you and others, but I watched it happen too. I think Jeff is
> trying to shake things up a bit and try to turn things around. I think that
> is wonderful. Past experience has made me doubt enough people will listen
> to your message and care enough to change things.
>
> Let me throw out something to consider in regards to Bill's point about
> discussion. Hopefully it won't upset people. I'll apologize up front in
> case it does.
>
> I give a lot of presentations to groups here in South Carolina. I usually
> get two types of responses. People are either enthusiastic or critical. The
> critical ones find fault that they didn't learn anything. They're the folk
> who have been in the hobby for 40 years, have SO2R stations, two or three
> towers, $4,000 radios, etc. An interesting observation about those people
> is because they are so knowledgeable and have the best money can buy they
> are the leaders of most groups. The ones who are enthusiastic are the
> little pistols and newer hams. They often sit quiet and let the critical
> people voice their opinions and guide the training topics. In many cases
> the quieter people know very little about take off angles and wonder why DX
> is so hard to work with a G5RV at 30 ft. They might never have used a VOM,
> do not know what common mode current is let alone know how to reduce it,
> and think RG8X is a perfectly fine feed line for most anything. It's those
> latter people that have the energy and excitement though. They are often
> afraid to ask questions and show their ignorance. Those are the people we
> need to encourage. That won't happen if us more experienced hams don't open
> up and talk about things that are second nature to us. Explain the things
> we learned 30 or 40 years back.
>
> Case in point. This is meant to be illustrative and not a " Aren't I
> great? " type of thing. I recently gave a Zoom talk to the DDCC about how I
> ended up with the vertical antennas I use. They aren't fancy. Just a plain
> old 160 inverted-L and a 40/80 elevated vertical. I started it out by
> saying if your station includes four squares and multiple towers you won't
> get much out of this talk. Nothing extraordinary was presented. I am not an
> expert on them so couldn't answer some questions. I just regurgitated what
> other smart people figured out. Discussion was active during and after the
> talk. A couple days afterwards I read a comment involving two experienced
> contesters. They thought it to be pretty simplistic. Fine. It was simple. I
> wanted it to be for two reasons. First is because I don't know enough for
> it to be new and exciting information for Hams with 40 years experience and
> Electrical Engineering degrees. More importantly, I wanted to share what I
> had learned with those new and excitable Hams who had no idea
> about that information. I received several emails from newer hams saying
> they loved it. One guy wanted to use some slides in a presentation he is
> giving to his local Illinois club -- which is not a contest club. Others
> asked my opinions of how to make their stations better thinking I know much
> more than I do. The DDCC posted it on YouTube. Word got around because it
> now has over 500 views. Someone in the Norfolk Amateur Radio Club (NARC) in
> the UK saw it and contacted the DDCC asking for it to be given to them.
> They  reciprocated and are giving talks to the DDCC.
>
> My point is people are hungry for the basics and us experienced folk ain't
> givin' em what they want. Too many of us are focused on squeezing out 1
> more dB and forget many out there still have plenty of low hanging fruit
> within easy reach. You don't need to know a lot to pass on information to
> those who know very little. We need to open up and share what we know
> with newer Hams and Contesters. To not be afraid of criticism from
> stating the obvious. Besides camaraderie, that is why most people join a
> contest club -- to hear about the things you mention Bill -- and it is why
> they leave when they don't get it. I'm doing my best to give it to them
> by sharing my mistakes and triumphs. I just do it somewhere else now
> because when I tried to get it from the SECC it seemed they weren't
> interested.
>
> Kevan N4XL
>
> On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 7:51 PM Bill Coleman <aa4lr at arrl.net> wrote:
>
>> I don’t mean to be critical of either Kevan or Jeff here, but I just want
>> to point something out.
>>
>> Part of the problem with having activity in the SECC is that people are
>> posting their activity to other groups.
>>
>> You’d have more activity in the SECC if these other groups weren’t such a
>> distraction.
>>
>> I’ve been a member of the SECC since it’s inception. I think the club
>> lost some of its momentum when Bill Fisher W4AN passed.
>>
>> One thing Bill did was encourage people to operate. Didn’t have to be big
>> scores, just makes some Qs. I think that’s what we need. A tail twister.
>>
>> Another thing which might be helpful is to have more useful discussion on
>> the reflector — which is, honestly, our clubhouse.
>>
>> Any one doing anything interesting? Any station improvements?
>> Contemplating any persona goals for upcoming contests?
>>
>> Perhaps have some discussion about operating techniques, challenges, etc.
>>
>> If we are having discussions, perhaps we’d be more accountable to each
>> other.
>>
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