[UK-CONTEST] RSGB 21/28 mhz test.

[brian coyne]

Colin G3PSM wrote -
I see from the SD reflector that the WAG Contest that
has taken over the 
21/28 MHz CW weekend has attracted over 1,000 logs!

Bring back the 7 MHz CW contest I say, especially as
we are now  
"officially" entering the minimum of the current solar
cycle.

Good luck to those entering seriously this weekend.
---------------------------------------------------------
 

That is an interesting fact which Colin has raised,
but that's all that it is,it cannot be regarded as a
statistic since we do not know how it compares with
previous entries that WAG received,was it an increase,
a decrease or just the status quo? Should we really
care?

WAG has been around a long time, ok it gets in the way
but at the same time does provide quite a few extra
contacts with the DL'S, but is it really now suddenly
such a threat that we need to move our own long
established event or even abandon it altogether, or
could it be something to do with propogation?

There must be no kneejerk reactions from the hfcc. It
is of the utmost importance that no major decisions
about the future of a contest should be taken at the
bottom of a particular cycle. It is evident that our
7mhz test will never be brought back but consider when
that decision was taken which was just after the
bottom of the lf cycle. When conditions for that band
were favourable the contest enjoyed a very good
following. In any contest, with the best will  in the
world, guys are not going to hang around for hours
with poor propagation and little to work. It is a fact
of life that they are not going to turn out. So can we
say to hfcc "look at the stats - how does it look over
the last 12 years or so"
Keep an ongoing review but in terms of whole cycle
years and not just one or two single years.

Changes to 21/28 mhz need to be considered very
carefully after all it is our remaining exclusive hf
contest on bands which pretty much all hams have
access to. Who knows, Don (G3XTT) may be given some
occasional slots in the front news pages to promote
this sort of event rather than just the contest pages
that many casuals do not read. I have in mind the
excellent sort of job that Dave (G4BUO) has done over
the past couple of years to get G stns turning out to
work the RSGB HQ stn in the IARU test. Anything has to
be worth a try rather than roll over and tamely
surrender to the Germans.

Regards to all,

Brian 5B/G4ODV.


	
	
		
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