[UK-CONTEST] RoPoCo

[Dennis Andrews, F5VHY]

Well - I hope it doesn't die! I have to lay claim as the inventor of RoPoCO - many moons ago when I was Chairman (sorry Chris - Chair or Chairperson) of the HFCC. We were looking for something that would encourage new blood into CW contesting and something that would present something more of a challenge than the usual 599xx stuff.

I have to admit that the development of the format was not totally mine. Pre-RoPoCo, the Raynet contest (circa 1960) had a format where the exchange received was then passed on for the next contact.

Rather in the way of BERU (sorry Chris - CC) perhaps there is a tendancy to judge the health of a contest by the number of entrants in an isolated event. Certainly in the case of BERU, and, I think, in the case of RoPoCo, compared with past years, the activity trend is upwards.

Isolated examples of low participation (e.g. in Summer Top Band or 7MHz) is no justification for throwing the contest out of the window.

73 de Dennis - F5VHY/G3MXJ/TM6X.