[UK-CONTEST] Straight Key Night...good idea!

[Nigel G3TXF]

Hello Roger,

Yes, a Straight Key Night would indeed be a great idea. 

But please limit the "contraints" to having to send CW with
a straight-key. Not being able to use a PC for logging (and
hence having only paper logs) would increase the work for
the adjudicators massively, and would probably make the
whole thing impractical. 

The real challenge will be the hand-sending of readable CW
at anything greater than 10 wpm on a straight key! [Quite a
challenge indeed for many of us dyed-in-the-wool F1
merchants!]

No need to worry about all those secret 'CW decoder boxes'
either. They just won't work with most hand-sent CW anyway!

73 - Nigel G3TXF



-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
Roger Cooke
Sent: 12 August 2010 15:19
To: Chairman, RSGB Contest Committee;
uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] RSGB Contest Committee

Hi Ed.


   One event I would very much like to see added to the RSGB
calendar is a Straight Key Night  (SKN). 

This would sort out the men from the boys! No PC logging,
proper reports, paper logging.........

(   NOT 24 hours though!!!!!!! )

 Regards from Roger, G3LDI
Swardeston, Norfolk.





________________________________
From: "Chairman, RSGB Contest Committee"
<G3SQX at EDTAYLOR.ORG>
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Sent: Sat, 7 August, 2010 12:16:16
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] RSGB Contest Committee


>From the RSGB Contest Committee

I'm replying to the main points raised on uk-contest about
the Committee report on its Spring meeting.  You can find a
copy of this report at
www.rsgbcc.org/hf/information/decisions.shtml 




>  RSGB contest calendar ...how parochial the events are.  

To some extent the Contest Committee is responding to the
"market" by providing such events, on 80m and VHF/UHF, for
example.  These club events, of which there is one almost
every week in the evenings, have been a great success.
However, they are not what some seasoned contesters might
call "real" contests, but they have attracted entrants who
don't consider themselves contesters.  We have begun a
programme to get these entrants more interested: compared to
countries like 
the USA and Germany, our international contest participation
is poor.   A small, 
but possibly significant step for beginners is to encourage
them to subscribe to uk-contest, where they will find that
there is another world of contesting out there, a source of
encouragement and information.


RoPoCo CONTESTS

>  If we don't keep the CW event you never will attract
newcomers  ... 
> halving the CW sessions of RoPoCo is destined to reduce
rather  than 
> to encourage newcomers.

>  Correct copy of ... something unpredictable like ... a
postcode in
>  ROPOCO) is an excellent way of improving your
communication skills. 

Only one of these contests will become SSB, and a similar
argument applies with regard to communication skills.  If
the SSB contest proves popular, then entrants might be
tempted to try the CW version as well.  

  
>  highlight the two combined results and the overall
winner's trophy. 
> It is not obvious

Good point.


IOTA CONTEST

>  I have long thought that island stations should not send
serial 
> numbers.  The report is quite long enough with 599  eu005.
Has this 
> ever been discussed?

Yes, as well as the current uk-contest discussions on
whether non-island to non-island QSOs should be devalued or
completely disallowed.  The IOTA Contest rules are due for
review in 2012, so views will be sought next year.


FIELD DAYS

>  encourage more Clubs to take part in NFD? ... 50's and
60's  ... were 
> around 150 Clubs participating with G portables.


Contesters are getting older, and some find it harder to get
out and about.  We 
need more young contesters, and the contesting community in
general can help by 
trying to encourage anyone who shows interest.  



1.8 MHz CW CONTESTS ... allow non-UK to non-UK QSOs 

>  Whist fiddling with the rules for the 160m CW contest 
>  why not introduce an SSB 160m Contest?

>  any contest where USA can 
>  work USA becomes purely domestic

We are still open to suggestions for these contests.


AFS SUPER-LEAGUE

>  My cynical view suggests that all this will do 
>  is introduce louder (and probably) wider signals 
>  on the bands. I do not believe we need it.

As a committee, we have to cater for two extremes (as well
as all the people in 
the middle).  At one end, we want to encourage beginners, as
explained above.  
At the other end, we need to make our contests interesting
for the "experts", so 
that they add at least one or two RSGB contests to the tally
of international 
ones they enter each year.  The Super-League is an
experiment, to see how clubs 
and their members respond to the challenge of operating both
above and below 
30MHz.  We know from the results that around 20 clubs enter
three of the current 
four AFS contests, with about a third of that number
entering all four, so there 
is scope for a bit more effort to achieve a good placing in
the Super-League, 
without affecting the way the rest of us enter these events.
We'll be 
monitoring signal quality very closely.


HF CHAMPIONSHIP

>  it is possible to win the HF Championship using only
>  CW and not possible to win it using only SSB 
>  (or any other mode).  
>  [I favour the] highest positions in 2 CW contests plus 2
SSB contests 
>  plus 1 RTTY contest plus 1 other data mode contest


We are looking at ways to change the balance -- the question
is still open to 
debate.


CONTEST RULES

>  Remove the ridiculous rule which places 100w stations
with 
>  beams in a category where they compete against 400w 

>  VHF contests ... rules regarding power and antennas
>  ... the current situation where a station with two Yagi's

>  and 50 watts has to be in the same section as a 400W 
>  single or multiple yagi.

Some contests make a distinction, and some do not.  There
are several 
conflicting goals -- making a roughly level playing-field,
encouraging 
improvement and innovation, and not fragmenting the entry
categories, to name a 
few.  However, all suggestions are welcome.


REAL-TIME SCORING

>  My current view is that it would be a waste
>  of effort unless it become mandatory for stations 
>  submitting an entry to take part.

This is still in the planning stage, and will not be
compulsory.


DATA CC CONTESTS on 80m

>  RTTY is the major contesting data mode and up to now has 
>  been at 45.5Bauds. ... the BARTG 75 Baud contest, which 
>  a lot thought a waste of time, it has proven to be very
popular.
>  ... would be interesting to see how 75Baud RTTY performed

>  ... extremely simple to go from one speed to another and
the 
>  same narrow CW filter can be used.  ... enable scores to
be 
>  increased, in the small amount of time spent on RTTY.
>  [I would] not suggest an increase in PSK speed as the 
>  bandwidth is already very small 

Any other thoughts on this, please?



>  Disappointed not to see the introduction of scoring via 
>  locator exchanges for any of the low band contests 
>  ... also would be good to have a 4x multiple for QRP 
>  stations ... per Stew Perry.

Again, more input requested.


CONTEST COMMITTEE MONITORING OF UK-CONTEST

>  At present we have no way of knowing whether input is 
>  acted upon or not.

The reflector is monitored, but action is not always taken.
Contest rules and 
adjudication have to remain relatively stable, and we have
to consider this as 
well as the conflicting ideas coming from many sources.  And
those who are just 
entering this segment of our hobby will have different
concerns, which are 
harder to assess.  



>  ... the proposals have plainly been well thought through.

A happy customer!  There had to be one somewhere!


73,

Ed Taylor, GW3SQX
Chairman, RSGB Contest Committee

chairman at rsgbcc.org


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