[UK-CONTEST] Radcom Contest Reporting

[Dave Sergeant]

On 26 Apr 2007 at 10:43, j kellaway wrote:

> Are contesters really so egotisical that they get a kick out of seeing
> their calls in Radcom?  I doubt whether there is anybody outside or
> inside of contesting who is remotley interested if G3RTE comes 150th
> in AFS or any other contest (In the top ten different story)  If you
> want to see where you came then just log into the HF Contest web site.
> 
> I'm afraid I would rather read three pages about the Ghz bands than
> see pages and pages of contest results in Radcom.  However I would be
> happy to see Tim's page extended from it's present length.  Providing
> he has the time to write more.
> 
> I would also say that DX chasing has also increased over the last few
> years. DXCC and IOTA being the prime movers for this.  I would even
> hesitate to say there are probably more UK stations interested in this
> side of the hobby than contesting.  Maybe we should be pushing for
> more space for HF DXing in Radcom as well!

I agree that the change to 'top 20' in this month's issue is 
unfortunate, in particular that there is no indication that this has 
actually been done and that full results are available on the 
website. When QST introduced a similar change a couple of years back 
there was considerable discussion (and opposition) before it 
happened. However even after their changes there remain in most 
months around 4 pages of contest news with detailed and attractive 
reports on the ARRL contests and full listings of forthcoming 
contests and rules. Even though for most contests the full tables are 
not there, the articles themselves are very attractive and serve to 
generate interest in contesting in general.

RadCom is improving, for instance the long article on HF Propagation 
this month (which could have been usefully split over two months to 
make room for other content..). But clearly there are some areas 
which need improving - Tim tries his best with the contest page but 
obviously some things are out of his control..

On a related matter, I have just emailed the GB2RS News editor. In 
next Sunday's news (currently available via members only site) it 
reports as the lead item of an Australian chap who was involved in a 
sea rescue. Described of course as a 'radio ham', it appears it was 
just an enthusiast listening to the coastal marine frequencies and 
there was no connection with amateur radio at all...

73 Dave G3YMC

http://www.davesergeant.com