[UK-CONTEST] 2009 UKAC Rules

[Ray James]

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>From the VHFCC website
RSGB VHF/UHF/SHF Contests 2009

This year the contest committee invited entrants to the VHF UK activity contests to complete an online survey. Feedback from that survey has been used as a guide to make some changes to the rules for 2009. The sections for the 2009 UK activity contests are now "Open" and "Restricted". The Restricted section will be for stations running 100W or less to a single antenna. There will be no distinction between single and multi-operator, which was thought to be of less importance in such short contests. All UKACs will now be scored at 1 point per Kms and each will have it's own club championship listings. Points will be normalised per section for calculating club scores. There was strong support for square Multipliers wnd these will continue to be used (M2).

There was a two-to-one majority in favour of retaining the ban on the use of the DX cluster and internet chat rooms to assist in making QSO's on 70cms and below.
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A missed opportunity Mr Field & Co.
The new UK Activity Contest rules continue to do nothing to encourage greater UK participation on a wider geographical scale with a continued favour to stations located in the south and south eastern parts of the UK. Areas that can easily work 500+km into Europe as well as far reaches of the UK so antennas in the main will still be focused away from the UK for most of a UK Activity Contest! It was the opportunity to be selfish to the needs of all UK radio amateurs and put the interests of the whole of the UK first because we are in dire need of it to increase VHF/UHF and Microwave contest and non-contest activity. Instead, we continue to run with the M2 multiplier for all UKAC's, a multiplier more suited to a country in the middle of European activity than on the north west edge.
I was keeping my fingers crossed that the survey question of only UK squares counting for multiplier status would come to fruition as this would not negate those who can already work easily into to deepest EU from doing so but it would allow greater interest to work all the UK squares which in turn encourages stations in every UK square to be active.   
As far as 2m and 70cm is concerned, the UKAC's have in general now just become a plethora of activity for stations in the southern half of the UK with minimal comparative representation from anywhere else and that is not healthy for VHF/UHF amateur radio in the UK.
The majority of participation (going by the claimed & results pages) comes from JO00, 01, 02, 03, IO90, 91, 92, 80, 81 and 82 so it stands to reason that the majority of survey responders are from the same areas who can work each other without to much of a challenge. Therefore, I would have expected the ratio of those electing for the retention of the ban on cluster/kst to have been far greater than 2:1 so it's not as clear cut as it looks. It still means we are out of step with the rest of Europe and inhibiting experimental contacts over real challenging distances from more remote parts of the UK. Be they from newly licensed amateurs wanting to participate in a regular monthly contest to build up skill and knowledge or from old hands happy to put their station to good use.

73 Ray GM4CXM

cc Don Field