[UK-CONTEST] Contest activity

[Ron Price]

It made me smile last Sunday evening reading the comments from some of the participants in ROPOCO, e.g.'...the slow QSO rate (eg 60 
in two hours) made it really boring.'

I had just returned home from one of my local hilltops in NE Wales from where I operated portable in the 432MHz Low Power contest.
This involved a 30 minute drive followed by a 50 minute slog up the hill carrying a heavy backpack (FT857, 12Ah SLAB etc..), a 15 foot sectional aluminium mast plus 19 element Yagi etc. Then 20 minutes to set up the station in readiness for the FOUR hour contest.
During that four hours I made 38 contacts and the 38th was in the last minute of the contest!
The highest claimed total so far made 51 QSOs so my rate was not too bad.
'60 QSOs in two hours' - I would have been delighted with that rate over the four hours!
Was I bored? Not at all, I loved every minute of it, otherwise I (and all the other participants) would not bother taking part!

Compared to the cut and thrust of HF contests the ones at VHF/UHF are much more civilised, relaxed affairs with time to exchange a few pleasantries with the other stations, and we actually help each other!
For example, I worked Gerry G1SWH about an hour into the contest and he called me again later to ask if I knew that there was a French station on lower down the band. Thanks to that info I made the contact giving me my best dx of the contest.
Thankfully many stations come on just to give points away, for example, G4JSR operating from the Birmingham area and just using a colinear. I am sure that he was pleased with the contact as it was his best dx at nearly 100km, but I was equally pleased as I gained two multipliers, he was my only contact in IO82 and the only one from BM postcode.

In the HF contests I try to give a few points away from my modest set up at home, so how about you serious HF operators doing the same in the VHF/UHF contests? Your points will be gratefully received!

Ron,
GW4EVX