[UK-CONTEST] VHF Contesting Activity

[Jiri Culak]

Hi David,

Interesting reading but I wouldn't say that HF contesting is more
demanding on skills and is more rewarding.
That is single point of view and I did contests on both parts of our
spectrum and they are all demanding, some of them more technically,
Some of them in different ways. 

Most of contests in EU (now back to VHF/UHF) are done club / field day
style. Germans, Czechs, etc.etc. just take a kit on Friday afternoon, go
to local or remote hill top and set up good station. Lots and lots of
portables. In here, there are few die hard groups keeping this alive
(G0VHF/P,G8P,G5B etc.etc.) 
When I go to local club, last time when they did field day was in 2002
and they are too lazy to commit to do it again. I think this is part of
the trend too. It's just too much of hassle to do it for most and its
actually much more easier to stay indoors and play on G5RV. 
May be there could be way forward in rules in encouraging more hams
going portable.
May be local clubs can try going out on Tuesday night, but not to local
pub but to local spot with reasonable VHF Takeoff and simple
antenna/radio setup.

In UK AC we have two sections, SF and Open. Open means you go out on
hill top and compete against multi ops. I would like to see some more
sections (OK now have 2 main and three sub sections).

A: Single
	A1 - SOHP
	A2 - SOMP up to 100W
	A3 - SOQRP - 10W
And same with multi ops. Why not add (P) portable section? I remember
taking 7el tonna on roofrack with 2m pole, going to Barkway and working
jo60 square with 50W. 


Yes, idea of 80 + 2m contest is quite a new point of view and would
demand both technical and operating skills for participants but may be
it would be too demanding on location?

73

Jiri


-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of David, G3YYD
Sent: 09 December 2008 11:44
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] VHF Contesting Activity

I have been reading the bleats about lack of VHF contest activity under 
the subject heading ARS 144MHz. Let us be honest, tinkering with small 
rules changes is not going to do much. look at the whole contesting 
scene from a possible newbie view and you will see why I think tinkering

with the rules will have minimal impact.

If I was a newbie contester then would I go for VHF or HF contesting?

On HF I get a tremendous choice of contests with lots of activity. I do 
not need anything special to have a fun time. Now look at VHF just from 
recent emails it is saying to get QSOs the newbie needs a big antenna on

a big mast with a big amplifier for just one band. (I will leave out the

QTH with an all round negative horizon.) That is a lot of cost and 
effort. Much better to go in for a HF contest with 100 watt rig and a 
G5RV. Or other HF contests when such a set up will give multiband at not

much cost/effort and the newbie will work all over the world as the top 
contest stations are really keen to work the small stations especially 
on the 2nd day of a 2 day contest.

So what does the newbie contester do? He/she goes for HF contests. The 
world has moved on with all classes of licence now having access to the 
HF bands.

On a personal note I do have a reasonable set up for 2M with excellent 
rig, antenna and amplifier, but I might enter one 2M contest a year. HF 
is more challenging with much higher levels of skill required and as a 
result more rewarding. I enter seriously 6 to 9 HF contests a year and 
practice on many more. I have already filled the family 2009 calendar 
for HF contests I want to enter so the XYL knows in advance. There are 
no 2M entries - they just do not offer the same level of challenge and 
reward as HF does.

If you want VHF contesting to thrive then first work out how to increase

the challenge and the reward. May be replace an existing HF and an 
existing VHF contest with one that links 2M and 80M together so to win 
or score well need to do reasonably well on both bands. For instance add

together the multipliers for both bands times number of QSOs. Could be a

club/team event. May be have both bands in use at the same time 
encouraging SO2R operation, M2 and team entries, etc. Start thinking 
creatively to take in the current situation as the previous VHF captives

have long gone to HF. May be the very popular RSGB 80M weekday evening 
club events by mode could include a VHF element as well widening appeal 
and the challenge.

David G3YYD
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