[UK-CONTEST] Fw: VHF Contesting Activity

[Colin Potter]

 Hi all,

 For a long time, as a G6, I enjoyed VHF contesting - it requires a 
different
 skill set from HF but the Q-rate is slow and to a large extent the final
 score is determined by the equipment available. Just look at the tables!

 Because of this, sometime back, I devised a handicap system for VHF that
 took into account the height of antenna and AGL plus the antenna gain
 together with the power used to give an ERP value, that was used to set a
 handicap.

 This made for a very enjoyable exercise - I won once in our small local
 contest group with 100W and 9ele while another time the winner did so
 because he managed GD from IO91 with 5W and a rubber duck (this antenna was
 incidentally defined as the minimum of 0dBd!). This system did allow anyone
 to use all the skills they have and have a chance of winning. The records 
of
 past contests could be used to sort out the relative importance of the
 parameters used but I realise that determining the handicap system would
 provoke innumerable arguments and probably spawn a separate reflector!
 Still, the thinking about the problems are part of the self-education in
 radio communication that are at the heart of the hobby.

 73 Colin M0DDT