[UK-CONTEST] VHF NFD

[Dave Sergeant]

On 9 Jul 2008 at 10:38,  Ken Eastty wrote:

> > There is some mild debate in the team if we?ll do this one again. I?m
> > told that VHF can be fun with some lifts into the continent but maybe
> > Silverstone, Wimbledon and perhaps the rain damped that down ? as did
> > lift conditions I think.
> 
> Probably all of those factors may have played a part however activity on
> V/UHF has declined dramatically partly I believe due to the changes in
> licensing over the past few years. In particular the removal of the CW
> requirement for HF operation and the immediate access to the HF bands
> for foundation/novice licensees has played a major part in this. Looking
> through contest results for HF & V/UHF contests shows that very few new
> licensees take part in any of these events. In the days when the leading
> stations were working towards 1000 QSO's these events used to be fun, is
> it worth taking the time & effort required to take part in a 24hr event
> where even the leaders now only make 300 - 400 QSO's? (less than half
> the QSO rate of leaders in HF NFD).

Interesting comments, though I am not sure you are correct in linking 
decline in VHF/UHF activity to removal of the morse requirement.

What did strike me this year when tuning around 2M during VHF NFD was 
how quiet it seemed. From here, admittedly with my FT290 and vertical 
which is hardly a contest setup!, the SSB segment was largely empty 
apart from a few stong relatively local /P contest stations. I have in 
past years managed to work into GW and even F land but this year there 
was no sign of them. Hardly the 'humming' band one should expect in 
these sorts of events.

Weather and conditions may well have played a big part - and in fact I 
was looking for my local club (Bracknell/FRARS) not knowing that they 
had already abandoned ship due to the weather. But I suspect that 
general activity, and support from non /P stations was way down on what 
it was just a few years ago.

The 80m club challenge and 2m activity events have certainly shown that 
there is a lot of interest in contests in clubs, but I guess there is a 
large contingent who don't go on air in any form these days, which is 
rather sad. And I am also in that 'well over 50' age range who no 
longer looks forward to the thrill of being in a tent on top of a windy 
hill...

73 Dave G3YMC

http://www.davesergeant.com