[UK-CONTEST] Random thoughts occasioned by Lee's Christmas missive

[Gerry Lynch]

Lee,

Thank you very much for your e-mail - there was much that I both  
agreed and disagreed with in it! You do sound very jaded with  
Contesting and you have been very involved not just with operating,  
but with administration and adjudication, for a very long time. Taking  
it easy for a while is probably a very good thing, but don't disappear  
entirely. The G*0*TN Collective must prevail!!!

A few random thoughts in response.

I love contesting. Absolutely bloody love it. Four of the six contests  
I've done seriously this year - both legs of CQWW, IOTA and BERU -  
were probably the best contesting experiences I've ever had, and that  
includes PJ2, SU and EU-006.

This is not unconnected with the fact that contesting is, at least at  
first glance, in rude health. Regardless of what you might read here  
or on cq-contest. Participation levels and scores have shattered all  
previous records, in the teeth of the longest and deepest solar  
minimum since amateur radio was born, even in supposedly dying  
contests like BERU.

In WWCW this year we scored over 11 Million points from G6PZ,  
averaging 2 QSOs per minute for the entire contest -AND STILL BLOODY  
WELL LOST (and hearty congrats to our pals at M6T for the great win  
and the great competition). Just think - a score that would have been  
unimaginable from somewhere like LX or CU when you started contesting  
is no longer enough to win plain old G!!!

CQWW is clearly the marquee event for conesting in the UK as it is  
worldwide, especially the SSB leg. It needs appropriate trailing and  
exposure in things like the Sport Radio column in RadCom, even if it  
isn't an RSGB sponsored event.

However, I'm not sure that WW SSB is the best event to blood new  
people to multi-op contesting, although I've been involved in a few  
attempts over the years. Sure, there's lots of activity, and for the  
casual S&P op on the HF bands, it's great fun. It's how many of us got  
hooked on contesting. But it's the thoughest event of all to well in.  
To run successfully, you must have hobnailed boots on, both  
psychologically and in terms of antenna horsepower.

I love all those post complaints people have about their frequency  
stolen. How sweet! At least on 20 and down, I always assume I'm  
sharing the frequency with at least two other people in WW SSB. Many's  
the time I've found a desperately needed YB double multiple mult or  
somesuch was CQing zero beat with me for half an hour, but neither of  
us could hear one another because we were cochannel with a UN7 who was  
S9 with both of us, at least until the ionosphere shifted or someone  
turned their beam a little. And that's part of the skill and joy of  
SSB contesting. And for as long as the sport is getting more popular  
and 10 metres is crap, it's going to get more congested rather than  
less. Note I did not use the phrase worse rather than better!

In that context, I wonder whether it wouldn't be a good idea to get  
some if the bigger UK stations to host an open house for less  
experienced ops in some of the big continental all-work-all national  
contests, UBA or 9A DX are usually good. ARI has great activity, and  
it's at a time of the year when 20 is open late into the evening but  
propagation has not yet hit the midsummer skids, and except maybe on  
40, you can always find a decent run frequency. I mentioned this  
vaguely to Paul during post-contest drinks in the early hours of  
Monday morning, and I think I'm making it a bit more seriously and  
formally now. None of us experienced types should take the mic/key for  
more than a few minutes for coaching purposes.

One problem is that people instinctively know that CW contesting  
requires a certain amount of skill, but because anyone can talk into a  
microphone, SSB contesting is easy and requires no special skill. But  
once you have CW of about 20 wpm, CW contesting is much easier in  
terms of skill required, power and antenna required to hold a run  
frequency and physical stamina needed. WW SSB is by far the most  
mentally and physically demanding contest of the year. In comparison  
BERU, say, is an absolute doddle.

Personally, I also can't imagine taking CQ WW much less seriously than  
World War Three, and a few of my other favourite events aren't far  
behind. Sounds brutal, but until recently I was probably working two  
Saturdays out of every three and I'm also a churchwarden, so taking  
part in a contest means seriously rearranging my life and that of  
other people who need to cover my absence. When I do that, I want to  
win or at least give myself the best possible shot of doing so. I  
suspect some other fairly competitive UK contesters are in the same  
boat.

On the other hand, would I give 8 or 10 hours over a Saturday evening  
and night to help a few new (and possibly young and poor) conesters  
cut their teeth entering ARI or HA DX from a top class contest  
station, pass on a few of my skills, and otherwise chill out with a  
couple of pints and have a bit of craic with my contesting pals?  
Totally! And if we could get a few of the big UK stations to do it on  
the same weekend, we could have a ball AND discover the next  
generation of UK contesters!

I think that's most of what I wanted to say. As far as VHF goes, the  
club contests seem to be going a storm in Central and Southern  
England, and that's good, but for most people in Gi, especially given  
our two cities are in fairly deep valleys AND the total collapse in  
casual VHF SSB operation, we might as well be in KL7 for VHF contests  
and the same goes for a lot of GM, bits of GW and an awful lot of  
south western G. Yes, I know it's different if you live where Gi6ATZ  
lives and have his antennas, but most of us don't. Not a reason to  
change something that clearly is rejuvinating VHF contesting in the  
UK's most densely populated regions, but a reason for seeing it as  
only one necessary tool of many.

Does the UK need an everyone-works-everyone contest with extra points  
for working the host country? Well, for those of us in EU-005 and  
EU-115, isn't that was IOTA more or less is with a few knobs on? And  
it's a great contest; in my view, no need to reinvent that wheel.

Contest operating is fundamentally about processing abstract  
information accurately and very, very, quickly. Interestingly,  
something that both you and I probably do a lot of in our otherwise  
very different professional lives.

Yes, I promise to start writing contest reports again in the future.  
But it has not been, as some of you already know, an easy year for me  
or one that has left much time for contesting. Such as I have has been  
spent on the air.

An interesting alternative metric for the age of those appearing at  
the top of UK contesting scoreboards. How many can remember snow as  
bad as this? I've never seen anything remotely close (and am rather  
enjoying playing in it like an 8 year old) - but I bet all those  
crusty G3s and G4s  can! And it's much too early for the Ms to  
dominate the contesting world yet - us zeroes have to knock the G4s  
off their perch first!

Astonished if anyone is still reading. I told you they were a random  
collection of thoughts!

73 and take care mucker,

Gerry G/Gi0RTN
Enjoying a full foot of snow in the East Surrey hills!!!

Sent from my iPhone