[UK-CONTEST] 2128MHz ssb contest

[Dave Sharred]

I thought I should also share my views with those on the reflector!  I'll
post the scores separately, and later.

Conditions seemed strange; 10m didn't get going until much later; and then
(towards the end) we were able to work stations in Europe on backscatter;
and even a few W's with a very Skewed path (225 degrees !!!)

15 m was better on Saturday; it seemed then wide open to the States, but
again , took a while to develop. Worked a good number of JA's though in the
morning.

I was surprised at the large number of G's that called, obviously unaware of
the rules. We worked some at the start, and obviously they won't score .
However, I wondered what the strength of opinion was on this point - should
we be able to work other G's, maybe at a lower points per QSO than non-G's??
Should we just take the country multiplier then , for inter-G calls, or use
the postal code info ???

I say this for a few reasons - I didn't like turning people away; it is
obvious that there are some of the casual ops that are unaware of the rules,
but just partaking; and, with the decline of the sunspot cycle, might this
be a good idea to try to maintain some activity??  Inter-G QSO's are not
always the easiest of things to work, since propagation does not really
support this; but, at the start and end of the contest, it would be easier
for G's to work each other on a quiet band!

In my opinion, I would say yes - but at a lower points per QSO for inter-G;
and we claim G mults, say 1 point !!  Then, we are not overtly encouraging
inter-G QSO's.

Suggestion - if you have any opinions on this; feel free to post them here,
but  put some comments on your "soapbox" comments that you submit with your
log

Dave Sharred
G3NKC

OP :  GD0EMG