[UK-CONTEST] The UK Activity Contests

[Roger Thawley]

John,

I have to disagree that the M5 rule has anything to do with the high level
of activity from IO83. Bolton WC, Macclesfield WC and others were active in
large numbers for some time prior to the M5 rule change. Encouragement from
within the club has been the big driver in the case of Bolton and a small
core of keen operators, all with access to reasonable contest sites on the
part of Macclesfield.

M0GVG/P, the team I contest with, has made significant station improvements
across the three bands we operate during Tuesday AC and, in sifting through
the performance stats I've kept over the past three seasons, the big jumps
in performance I can identify for us are:

a) Finding a better site to operate from - however, the East to South East
path to the continent is obstructed by a long ridge which is between 65M and
85M higher that the spot we use, making continental contacts rare and only
possible under lift conditions.
b) Replacing the IC7000 we used to use with IC275-H, IC475-H and IC575-H.
The receive performance of these radios is in another world compared to that
of the IC7000 - the sea of strong local signals (40 to 50 in some contests)
from the home square hardly cause a scratch now and, sure, the 50% increase
in power output on 2M and 70cms no doubt makes some useful difference as
well.
c) Improved antennas, addition of pre-amps on 2M and 70cm, shorter length of
better quality coax.

Most tellingly comparing performance between last year (pre-M5 rules) and
this year (M5 rules) - average positions across all 12 months, using current
equipment setup:

2010:	6M - 2nd<>3rd place.
	2M - 13<>14th place.
	70cm - 11<>12th place.

2011:	6M - 2nd<>3rd place.
	2M - 15<>16th place.
	70cm - 8<>9th place.

All in all, at least from our perspective, M5 rules haven't made much
difference:
6M - no change, 2M - worse, 70cms - better.

As I see it, the only way to have a completely 'fair' set of rules would be
to create a custom set of terms for each and every entrant, taking into
consideration their equipment and location in relation to all other entrants
- clearly such an arrangement is not practical.
For may years, there have been rules which benefit a certain group of
parties and other parties have found it impossible to be competitive...but
have still entered simply for the enjoyment of entering. The rules have
change and now benefit a different set of parties; some of the parties who
used to benefit have thrown their toys out of the cot - well, sorry guys and
galls....suck it up and let others have a little glory for a while.

On the subject of other contests, for us, a short contest on a weekday
evening is what makes an entry possible, weekends are out - simple as that.
VHF FD is a possible exception - it's once a year.

Roger G0BSU (M0GVG/P)

-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of John Lemay
Sent: 31 December 2011 09:19
To: 'Ray James'; 'UK Contesting'
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] The UK Activity Contests

Ray and all

I agree it's been good to see activity in the UKAC increase this year, even
though I have not been qrv myself, except very occasionally. Nevertheless, I
have listened and observed on a number of Tuesday nights. And I'm glad that
your tireless efforts to persuade the committee to change the rules to an M5
multiplier were successful. By a remarkable co-incidence it has enabled you
to achieve some regular top spots in the results table.

However, as Bob G8HGN has pointed out, there has been a down-side too. A
number of previously keen competitors in the SE of England have voted with
their feet and no longer enter the UKAC. It's ironic that you can now see
comments posted along the lines of "worked no-one in 01 or 02 last night".

I find the M5 multiplier to be insular and introverted. It plainly
discourages us from looking further afield, and instead encourages intense
areas of activity such as we now see in IO83.

Unfortunately, the Tuesday night increase in activity has not been
transferred to other contests, at least, not yet. I rather think that this
is because longer contests, such as the Trophies, fall into the "too
difficult" category.

Ah well, Happy New Year to all, including the Committee, who have the
thankless task of trying to please almost everyone almost all the time !

Regards

John G4ZTR