[UK-CONTEST] 14yrs old and demise of VHF Contesting

[steve]

Hi All. 

Been reading with great interest the debate that has been ongoing. 

Being introduced to amateur radio at the age of 4 when my mum and dad managed to find enough money out of the family budget to RENT a BLACK AND WHITE tv ( who remembers those things?), from another great defunct english company called GRANADA. ( Great Service, Great sets, is what you get when you rent from Granada!, was the company slogan I recall).  The man at the bottom of the garden had some a strange big crossed thing on a pole that turned around.....and I recall him sitting in his garden shed making all sorts of strange noises that he would probably get locked up for these days!. 

Our black and white TV worked quite well when there was actually something being transmited instead of test cad D.  - When it did work and actually showed great programms like the black and white minstral show, funny how that show went off air when colout tv came along......or was that the time we entered the PC world.....and I dont mean Personal Computers!.   

The TV used to pick up unscheduled programms........CQ CQ CQ twenty .... CQ DX on twenty meters ...........   Gordon Risley calling!..    

My interest in amateur radio had been born.....many years later joining the scouts and doing the communicators badge, led me being steered in the direction of a licence at 14.......the pass slip arrived and I wanted to get up to MATLOCK to purchase the brand new TR7200GX vhf fm handie.......until my mentor Phil Cragg G3UGK pointed out that there would be no one to talk to .........He assited me through the CW and a few months later on October 19th, 1975 G4EOF dropped through the letter box. 

Prior to this there had been many years with the B40 and Trio 9R59DS tuning the bands.......learning about probagation......entering the WPX columb in Shortwave Mag.......A8719 was my RSGB associate number I seem to recall. 

The biggest mistake I made was not taking a job with BP, and going to sea as a radio op.....

So I will come to the point now, indeed as someone has pointed out the FT290 was superceeded by the FT817....and that has full coverage from 160 to 70cms.....what is the point of making a big effort to go out and sit on a hill....get wet cold and not make many qso's when you can sit at home most weekends tune the bands and make some contest QSO's.   

Look at the number of ex class B operators that pop up to give points away on the 80m cc contests goes someway to back up this theory, on the other hand just look at what the WX has been like and that will probably go someway to giving an answer. 

Now where did I put that video of the the black and white minsterals!

73

Steve
G4EOF