[UK-CONTEST] Contest Calendar or Not

[John Dunnington]

Sorry  but seem to have missed something (getting old)..

With all the debate.cancellations,scrapping etc etc has anybody ever asked
the question or better still had a democratic vote on what should be ditched
or what is wanted by the UK Contest Group? There also must be a large group
who are not represented on this medium or are they the silent majority? Sit
there, read,listen say now't and get on with life other than a contesting
debate going nowhere.

I for one accept that the LF Cumlatives ended up as is was never envisaged
by whatever group initially conceived it BUT it did encourage a group of
people to get on 160/80/40 for half a dozen sessions at a reasonable hour
when it seemed to do no harm to anybody. Except perhaps the HF Contest
Committee since  in their opinion and wisdom  the contest "has gone away
from it's original idea of encouraging slow CW operators". Is it a question
of can't be bothered any more after all the sessions are not for front line
contesters so lets kill it. How many members of the group that killed this
particular series did in fact participate actively in the sessions? I know
locally I heard callsigns exchanging numbers I never hear from month to
month in any form of contest; lots never bother to enter but that is not the
question it is all about activity on the bands.

Funny but I keep hearing on the other hand if we don't use the bands then
commercial traffic takes over...just look at the bottom of 80m yes it is a
shared service but if it is busy they have a lot more spectrum than our
little 100Khz at the bottom end. Whats is wrong with having this 100Khz full
of signals for a couple of hours? I spend 75% of my operating time down
there in the bottom 15 Khz and believe me as far as activity goes it's
zilch.

For most operators their world is not CQWW or the ARRL but small sessions in
several
specialist contests with no pressure to put in entries but to collect
countries,counties,provinces or even WAB Squares. The short duration
sessions fit this bill ideally.

Can we come back to the real world and have some form of laid back or hell
for leather operator choice activity sessions on 160/80/40m ? Despite the
HFCC opinion there is a demand for such sessions not just from UK but other
continental operators are interested in things like WAB. Why do the Russians
have so many 80m activity sessions?

Feeling better? Who me? No not really, whats gone has gone forever...

Why not put in an insert to Radcom asking the questions? Not force the
opinion of a few on the majority when the few may not be interested in the
first place. That is how war's start and dictators are born.

73 John

P.S. I just worked out why I get  what was a diary (pocket) and now a Log
Book and Diary for my shack..yes I pay by standing order. Thank you RSGB the
information may be outdated but mine does get used. 99% of the information
is fine just our own contest information. To think I thought I had friends
in high places hence the annual diary..