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

Thu Aug 12 07:57:19 PDT 2010

Hello all,

Come and practise on Tuesday nights between 3.540 and 3.550 MHz during the hour commencing 20.00 local.  The Cheltenham ARA has a cw activity hour and Some but not all taking part do use straight keys not to mention some exotic gear too!

Giles Herbert
G0NXA
Often on 3.716 MHz

> From: nigel at G3TXF.com
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:50:35 +0100
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Straight Key Night...good idea!
> 
> 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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> 
> 
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