[UK-CONTEST] Planning for 2004 ?

[Peter Bowyer]

Chris GM3WOJ wrote :

> I also was hoping to see some changes to the RSGB Contest Calendar
> for 2003.  Discussions and suggestions here on this reflector seemed to
> have virtually no effect on the HFCC's planning for 2003.

[...]

> My own feeling is that the one-off Jubilee event seemed to attract quite
> a good  number of entries, and that an 'RSGB' HF contest (similar to last
> weekend's PACC etc..) would be viable. Whether the Commonwealth
> should be involved is open to debate.

Given the above, might I suggest a further point ... 'whether the RSGB HFCC
should be involved is open to debate'.

Serious point here - if the HFCC isn't (for whatever reason, not all of them
bad) organising the contests you/we want, and doesn't (for whatever reason,
still not all of them bad) seem to be taking into account your/our feedback,
then we should remember that they're not the only organisation who can run
contests.

For whatever reason, HFCC seem to concentrate on (and be most successful in)
the 'domestic calendar' - contests for UK amateurs (= RSGB members). That's
not necessarily a criticism - but it does mean that almost none of the
HFCC-organised contests appeal to me. (IOTA is a very notable exception -
but it's not a traditional HFCC-owned-and-run contest - it has 'mixed
parentage').

There were many calls for the continuation of the Jubilee contest in some
form, but HFCC has not chosen to take these on board (again, not necessarily
for bad reasons). There have also been regular calls for
'contest-within-a-contest' events to encourage UK participation in WW, WPX
etc (or do I mean 'UK log submission').

In an ideal world,our national society's contest committee would be covering
more of the ground. That would be my preferred solution, and since much
lobbying has gone on here and elsewhere, I guess it would be others' as
well. But if HFCC doesn't/can't/won't, and the lobbying process is so slow
and painful that by the time feedback is considered and outcomes released
we've forgotten what we were lobbying about, is there an opportunity here
for another group of interested parties to mobilise and fill in the gaps?

73 Peter G4MJS