[UK-CONTEST] ARS 144mhz

[Robert Offer]

Hi All
 
I had most of the day on the AFS contest although not too seriously.  I had
hoped to do some testing of kit, but that didn't happen for one reason and
another.
 
I found conditions to be slightly up, but activity as far as I could detect
was quite poor considering the length of the contest.  It was good to work
several of the VHFCC members.
 
Regarding "GM"  stations, I worked 5 - GM4PPT, GM4SDQ, GM0HTT [701km],
GM4WJA & GM4AFF [who was using 25w].  I had antennas pointed towards GM for
quite a while in the afternoon, especially when most of the activity in EU
seemed to dry up.  I am aware that there was at least one other GM that I
missed and another 2 who may have been on.
 
Regarding activity -
Maybe on UK multiplier contests we should have the 6 x BT & 3 x GM code
rule[?] to encourage inter UK activity and use squares and postcodes as
well?  We seem to be getting away from what I thought the original idea was
with the UKAC which was to promote contesting to clubs and smaller stations
entering on behalf of their club where the 1pt/contact gave them a better
chance of meaning something to a "big" contest station rather than just "a
local" worth a very few points.  I still remember the first time I made
contact with a "big" UK contest station when first licenced and remember how
diminutive it felt when I received "thanks for the point.. ."
 
Perhaps we should consider doing something more to encourage the EU stations
to beam our way rather than task us with trying to "bore a hole" through the
back of their arrays.
 
There is the saying if it isn't broken [the rules that is] - no need to fix
it, but I'm not sure that we actually know if it's broken or not.  How many
stations do a contest once or twice and then disappear into the ether?
There are always the die-hards :-), but it's regular new blood we need to
encourage, somehow.  I would have thought that with the computing talent
within the VHFCC that by now they would have been able to "model" rule
changes to see what the likely effect would be and then offer them up for
discussion to the contesting community - even in a face to face forum [bring
back the VHF conventions :-)] with maybe a longer period before introduction
of the rule changes if appropriate?  Certainly the 2009 rules, bringing on
board all VHF/UHF bands to a club championship, has meant an awful lot of
rethinking arrays and shack layout so that I don't have a major refit each
week.  The rule change from one point/Q to points/km would seem to favour
the "big" stations that never enter the "Club" or team aspect of contesting
whereas 1pt/Q with postcode and square multipliers can make a small UK
station quite "wanted" and even give them a sense of importance and
achievement.
 
Although Spalding Club has quite a few members, very few seem interested in
contesting - HF or VHF - even to the point that they had a 2m net on a
Tuesday night that could have meant easy 1pt pickings for locals on the
UKAC, but they weren't interested!
 
I'm afraid I don't have answers, but I can offer suggestions for
consideration.  Sure enough if we don't find suggestions AND answers soon
amateur radio will consist of a bunch of old duffers sitting in a room in
various towns across the country remembering how it used to be instead of
getting of their $%^es and doing something constructive.  Maybe we need more
active local leaders who can and will mentor new amateurs?
 
My observations & 2d [now that does show my age :-)].
 
Please don't forget to look down the bottom end of the 2m band before you
say there in NO activity.
 
73
Bob
G1ZJP / M1MHZ
 
 
 
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] ARS 144mhz
 
Hi
Well, I'll be the first to kick off on this one, seeing as its the first
contest I've appeared at for many months.   I wasn't intending to put in an
entry due to not actually being in an affiliated radio society (!) but just
wanted to see what the new QTH would be like (still a building site!).   
 
Well it wasn't really worth the bother.   
 
A grand total of 5 QSOs wasn't a lot to show and I now understand what Ray
has been going on about with the distinction between M2 and only UK squares
counting for mults.  Yes I do know there are no mults in this contest, but
some of the few stations I could hear were mostly beaming to Europe (as
evidenced by the people they were working) - how much more so this will be
where there are square multipliers to be had.   It'll be interesting to see
how things sound on one of the activity contests - I intend to be active in
those from the new year (hint hint put the beam this way!!).  That is unless
I die of boredom and stick to MS on VHF in future.    I'd like to post my
vote to what Ray has been saying if you want to encourage more activity from
outside the midlands/south England in these _UK_ vhf contests
 
Still, it was nice to hear the old Kent beacon again - we'll be completely
stuffed up here if that goes QRT, nice to work G4RRA down in Devon just to
show that it is possible, but where was everyone in between?   I'd be
interested to hear how strong ANG was with you all yesterday?
 
Hopefully see you all in the ACs
 
73
Andy
gm8oeg IO86mn
 
 
 
The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish charity, No: SC015096
_______________________________________________
UK-Contest mailing list
UK-Contest at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest