[UK-CONTEST] Decline in 2m contest activity

[don.field at gmail.com]

Interesting that this debate should emerge after the 2m Trophy event. As 
that is an IARU-co-ordinated event, the ON4KST "ban" does not apply. A case 
of sour grapes for not having read the rules beforehand?



But it is worth noting that in the heyday of 2m activity it was common to 
work several hundred UK stations in a contest. That was well before 
PacketCluster, never mind ON4KST. So let's not start saying that the recent 
rule change is somehow responsible for the low number of participants. It 
may indeed be that the domination of the results by a few individuals 
and/or groups has put others off, though I would venture that half the fun 
is taking part, whether you end with a podium finish or not. 



My thanks for Chris WOJ in his posting (below) for bringing some rational 
thought into the discussion. The Contest Committee has explained its 
reasons for the changes in previous postings and they were generally 
welcomed. Whether, in the light of recent CQWW and ARRL rule changes due to 
the advent of Skimmer, etc, we should now jump on the bandwagon for RSGB 
contests and have two single-op categories - "single-op pure" and 
"single-op, anything goes" is another matter and one that we in the 
Committee will no doubt be debating in due course (there will be an 
opportunity for those attending the HF Convention in October to make their 
views known, but input can be made to the Committee at any time - not in 
contest logs Soapbox, please, as it can easily be overlooked, but in an 
email to myself or any member of the committee).



Don G3XTT

Contest Cttee Chairman





> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Chris Tran GM3WOJ
> Sent: 10/09/08 02:41 pm
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Decline in 2m contest activity
> 
> Hello all
> 
> This is an interesting thread, which raises a whole host of other issues 
> to 
> do with the health of UK amateur radio in general.
> 
> Sorry to disagree with my old friend Ray GM4CXM and my new friend Jiri 
> M0ITY, but I think the VHFCC were quite correct to restrict the use of 
> the 
> ON4KST chat-room - with the best will in the world, the temptation to 
> correct incorrectly copied QSO information must be almost impossible to 
> resist. Sorry guys, but this is a radio hobby, not an internet hobby.  
> For 
> years VHF and UHF DXing/weak-signal QSOs worked well with just an radio + 
> amp + antenna + CQ to solicit QSOs - why should it be any different in 
> 2008 
> ?
> 
> The decline in 2m contest activity has 2 facets - firstly - where are the 
> 10W/100W + 8ele yagi brigade, who were the 'bread and butter' (aka 
> 'cannon 
> fodder'!) of the portables in the 1980s and early 1990s ?  My theory is 
> that 
> the current generation have never experienced the thrill of completing a 
> 1000km QSO, so don't see 'anything in it for them' ?
> 
> The second facet is the demise of all but a few diehard 'big groups' - my 
> theory about this is that one group dominated the 2m contest scene for 
> many 
> years, to such an extent that other groups simply 'gave up' trying to 
> beat 
> them. You might view this as an over-simplification, but it is what has 
> happened.
> 
> 73
> Chris
> GM3WOJ 
> 
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