[UK-CONTEST] QRS Contest

[Dave Sergeant]

Reading these threads with some interest...

Perhaps we are missing the point. The whole purpose of AFS, the club 
champs and the former QRS contests is to get club members on the air 
in contests. Many, in fact most, of these will not be dedicated 
contersters like those of us who frequent this list. In fact quite a 
lot will have no intention of ever becoming so, but only come on to 
'help their local club'. In this context we at Bracknell have the 
same problem that others have mentioned - they perhaps have a listen, 
tune around, and hear loads of stations sending at a far higher speed 
than they can possibly copy, perhaps work a couple of stations then 
lose interest and wander off to do other things. Similar applies to 
the phone legs. There is a big problem attracting these people to 
contests in the first place before we even think about getting them 
to actually enjoy them and improve their skills.

I have been trying with limited success to get our members on the 
air. In fact we have been far more successful in the CW events, maybe 
a sign that those who have been CW ops for quite a while are keener 
to get on the air in the first place. A few dedicated enthusiasts 
have a bash in the club challenge data legs, support for SSB events 
has been pitiful. Maybe this is a consequence of a club with members 
largely in urban accomodation and lack of facilities for decent 
stations, but it may also be a sign of the times that they have no 
dedicated interest in operating when there are so many other 
attractions in life.

If we are to get new converts to contesting, CW or otherwise, we must 
actively explore QRS parts of contests, or even restore the old QRS 
events, to give these people a introduction to the hobby which is not 
so intimidating to the complete novice.

At Bracknell this year we failed miserably to generate interest. Two 
of our regulars dropped out at the last minute and our only other 
entrant apart from me was a relatively newcomer to CW contests who 
found the whole event rather confusing and only made 10 QSOs. I 
suspect our problem is far from unique.

73 Dave G3YMC

http://www.davesergeant.com