[UK-CONTEST] Consultation - NFD

[Colin G3PSM]

Dave,

Wearing my IARU Region 1 HF Manager's hat I have to say I am a little 
surprised at this development although I have heard some rumblings in 
the background.  

During the last Region 1 Conference last September member society HF 
Managers led by the Scandinavians voted to disband the Contest Sub-Group 
because there was no interest in continuing this group.   You will no 
doubt recollect the CSG was chaired by the late G6LX in it's heyday.   
As a result of this decision the responsibility for contest liaison fell 
back to the main Region 1 HF Committee.

There was an informal meeting of Region 1 HF Managers at Friedrichshafen 
this year and I invited Roger G3SXW to present his thoughts on a 
European field day.   Unfortunately his schedule precluded this 
happening and the subject was not discussed althought the contesting 
topic was discussed.   Certainly Lother DL3UD did not mention any 
discussions that had been taking place.

There is to be a further meeting of Region 1 HF Managers next February 
and if it is the intention to have a formal Region 1 Field Day 
re-instituted (I think it was in 1987 it was scrapped) then I need to 
have a paper from at least one of the member societies making this 
proposal by December.

In order to remain neutral I will stand aside from the main discussion 
but will follow it with interest.

73

Colin, G3PSM

Dave Lawley wrote:

>Discussions have been taking place with a view to getting more European
>countries to participate in CW field day. At the moment only the
>date/time are harmonised, though DARC accept entries from any station,
>not just DL and several Gs now submit their log to DARC as well as RSGB.
>Nothing is cast in concrete yet but essential features of a European CW
>field day are likely to include:
>
>1. Expanded number of sections including high power, low power, low
>power restricted and QRP
>
>2. Fixed station section
>
>3. Scoring system based on country multipliers rather than double points
>on 160/10
>
>4. Packet cluster permitted (actually permitted in NFD now but without
>multipliers serves no purpose)
>
>HFCC is very keen to see more portables active from a greater number of
>countries but in considering the proposals we are concerned that the
>essential nature of NFD may be lost. While uk-contest membership may not
>represent the full cross-section of UK contesters with an interest in
>NFD now or in the future, this is the best forum we have for gaining
>feedback so please let us have your views.
>
>HFCC's concerns are in a number of areas:
>
>1. There is no universal rule that every contest must have multipliers.
>The UK scoring scheme is flatter, with less difference between station's
>scores, and it spreads activity out to 160 and 10m.
>
>2. To compete in a contest using multipliers, stations would have to be
>equipped for packet or telnet.
>
>3. Multipliers hand an advantage to portables in the rarer countries
>e.g. GJ who would be guaranteed steady streams of callers. Under the
>current rules all UK countries compete on a more equal basis.
>
>4. Fixed station section makes it too easy if you can't find a site or
>have difficulty with the generator to give up and operate from home.
>Real concern that in a few years most 'field day' stations won't be in a
>field at all.
>
>5. No need for greatly increased QSO rates when the majority of entrants
>in NFD at the moment don't manage to work all the available stations.
>
>6. Fixed stations, some using excess power and wide signals, may come to
>dominate making it harder for smaller field day stations to 'run'. They
>will just become QSO fodder for the big boys.
>
>7. Inspections in the UK have ensured that rules are not flouted.
>Impossible to guarantee adherence to rules in a continent-wide field
>day, could lead to suspicions and resentment.
>
>8. Real difficulty in agreeing common rules on sections and equipment.
>
>9. Disparity of licensed power levels
>
>There would be a number of details to be hammered out. If based on DARC
>rules, restricted section height would change from 11m to 15m. Can all
>groups manage this greater height or if not would they lose motivation
>to enter NFD?
>
>The German restricted section specifies one transceiver with no sub-
>receiver, so their leading groups are forced to use TS850 or
>similar. There have been several long and painful discussions about
>second receiver / sub receiver in NFD on uk-contest, do we want to break
>the current concensus?
>
>HFCC's overall responsibility is to RSGB members. Would a change to a
>European set of rules attract more G portables? Might it cause loss of
>support from those groups happier with the current rules?  There is a
>risk we might see UK entry numbers go down, while overall Eu entry goes
>up.
>
>If rules defining sections and antenna height can be agreed, what about
>the option of HFCC continuing to score entries on the same basis as now,
>with the UK listing appearing in Radcom while both the UK and European
>listings go on the web. A while ago in the context of CQWW it was
>suggested there could be a 'contest within a contest' with UK awards
>within the bigger event: applying RSGB rules to a European field day
>would achieve something very similar.
>
>Please could you share your thoughts on the reflector, so that HFCC can
>feed back views to our European partners by 18th August.
>
>Dave G4BUO
>RSGB HF Contests Committee
>
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