[UK-CONTEST] Re :- RSGB 21/28MHz Contest

[brian coyne]

Whilst this must be treated as 'good news' forgive my pessimism as regarding it as just a 'stay of execution'  
 
This fixture was broken and needed fixing but it was not ready for the scrapheap. The causes for ultimate failure are still there. The committee have passed up on an opportunity to revamp the rules and have not explored the many suggestions voiced here which would address the prevailing failings .Why not?, we need initiative from our committee not inertia! 
 
Activity breeds activity we know that, so every avenue to encourage more Uk stn participation needs to be explored. There was a lot of cheerleading in Radcom and other places to support  GB7HQ, how about some reminders for this and our other contests, a fixture listing on the Sport Radio page is only really consulted by those who are devotees already.
 
Impetus to uk activity would come from involving clubs and AFS type groups and putting up some redundant trophy as a prize. As I said in a previous post, peer pressure is a great motivator to take part. Propagation is always a conundrum which makes or breaks the contest and it can be bad even at times when it is expected to be better. This is why making the competition an open one should be considered. The effect is that overseas stns would stay with it and others would join them. Likewise those many Uk guys who appear briefly and disappear because it is too slow would be encouraged to stick around, activity breeds activity. Scoring similar to last weekends Ukraine contest seems ideal with big incentives to look for UR mlts. Even though UR was in the dead zone for me on 21/28 mhz bands i still worked a few and enjoyed a few hours looking for them and working other countries meantime.
 
If committee would only view the present state of this  contest as a glass half full rather than half empty situation there could be hope but I am afraid that the tone of Steve's post displays a lack of conviction and enthusiasm on their part.
 
73  Brian 5B4AIZ.