[UK-CONTEST] Jubilee contest - the future ?

[Clive Whelan]

Chris Tran GM3WOJ wrote:
> It was disappointing that many BERU regulars chose to
> stick to CW instead of even trying the mixed-mode section.
>


Chris could be forgiven for thinking that as he was only on SSB, 
but it just wasn't so. The BERU regulars were not there full 
stop, see reports from other CW only entrants. This fact is 
germane, indeed crucial to any future the event might have. The 
folk we really need to feel sorry for are the   Eu and Asian 
stations who supported the event en masse- yes, and to their 
credit more US than one might have expected-, who were 
scrabbling around for a hundred or so QSOs; they, above all need 
to be considered, much less so the (ex G) Commonwealth ( see 
later)


> I've lost the place slightly about the longer-term plan
> for the 'Jubilee' event - is it to replace BERU ? (I can see 
the spluttering
> into the pink gin on the verandah near Nairobi!)   Or is it a 
new 'work the
> UK + Commonwealth' event ?   I don't think there is a place 
for both
> events in the annual calendar, but I may be wrong.
>


I think it was a "toe in the water" job, and neither was 
intended. Kudos to all concerned for making it the limited 
success it was. This was RSGB thinking " like it oughta be", not 
the usual halfhearted stuff. Let's hear it for HFCC ( et al). 
Don't tell anyone I said that will you, I have a curmudgeonly 
image to protect!

However, it is, as you say, that there can be no place for both 
events in the calendar, the significance of this being profound 
imo.


> If this event is continue, what radical changes are needed ?  
The HFCC
> are in a dilemma - if they make each of the UK call-areas (GD, 
GW, GM)
> a separate multiplier, this will make the contest much more 
interesting for
> all other entrants, but would make it very difficult for an 
ordinary G or M
> station to do well in the event
>
[etc]

This is clearly important, but not the most important thing to 
be considered, and could be thrashed out in the next 6 months or 
so. QRX, the punch line's coming!


> is it to replace BERU ? (I can see the spluttering
> into the pink gin on the verandah near Nairobi!)
>

Did you work any 5Z4s, because I didn't, and frankly BERU has 
been on the rocks for some years because of the paucity of 
ex-pat types. It is indeed one of those things that we do 
wonderfully well as a nation, rather like our Royal pageantry, 
and  which the rest of the world looks upon with some envy. 
However, surely it is necessary to consider the opportunity cost 
of such things, if I may be permitted a brief lapse into 
management speak. The analogue to our own dilemma is clearly the 
Monarchist/Republican debate, and I certainly don't want to go 
there!

Nevertheless, such opportunity cost in our own insular terms, is 
surely germane to the long term future of UK contesting, which I 
think we all agree has not been in rude health in recent years. 
We must surely look forward and not backward if we are to 
prosper, and I therefore propose;


BERU is dead, long live the Jubilee contest ( whatever it might 
be called in future).


You may now light the flame-throwers!

73


Clive






GW3NJW
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Contest Cambria-http://www.gw7x.org
GW3NJW
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Contest Cambria-http://www.gw7x.org