[UK-CONTEST] G0TZZ queries

[Robert Chipperfield]

A few thoughts, coming from a group where we're trying rather 
successfully to encourage more people to take part in contests:

I appreciate the sentiment about wanting to encourage those new to 
contesting to be able to participate equally with those who are 
experienced, but I'm not sure that's an appropriate strategy for those 
who are, as you say, a little mic-shy (or just contest-shy).

S&P is a great strategy in a contest you've not taken part in before 
because you can listen to the person before you make a contact, work out 
in your own time what you need to say, then have a go yourself.

I'm not sure it's also a great idea to have a contest entirely formed of 
those who are new to the hobby with limited setups: when operating HF 
from home, for example, I'm generally reluctant to call CQ, as my noise 
floor means I know there are likely to be many stations who would hear 
me but who I would not hear. Many of the "big guns" have excellent RX 
performance to match their linears, and this is very encouraging to 
those who may be limited. Just as when Arecibo made it possible for 
those with a 9-ele beam to make an EME contact, those with an 80m 
4-square make it much more pleasant for those who have 10w and a random 
bit of wire (pretty much my home shack on HF!). A contest where the only 
stations were the small guys would probably not be very rewarding for 
anyone.

Interesting suggestion on the verticals: I guess rather than a section 
dedicated to it, maybe just some more encouragement to those already 
participating to spend some time on FM? We've done so in the past on 4m 
in particular, with good results, and sometimes spend a few minutes on 
FM in some of the other UKACs to work local stations who don't have SSB 
capability; some of these guys have now acquired more kit as a result, 
and are becoming more and more active.

A great story from 80m SSB AFS the other week: I'd been speaking to 
Graham, 2E0JYK, on the local repeater as we drove to G3PYE's operating 
location for the day, and explained what we were doing, and suggested he 
had a play. We worked him in the contest a few hours later; he gave us a 
single-digits serial number, and I thought no more of it. As we drove 
home, I caught him again on GB3PY: "I managed 53 contacts in the end!" 
he told me. "I popped on and thought I'd work you guys, then I found a 
couple more. So I thought I'd fill up this page of the log book. Then I 
finished the next page as well. Then started on the page after. And I 
had fun!".

It was Graham's first HF contest entry, but it's a story we've been 
hearing more and more. Just chatting about contests in the local 
community encourages people to come on in the first instance to work the 
guys they know already, but soon enough the enthusiasm rubs off, and 
they're making respectable entries and thoroughly enjoying it. (Graham 
is now looking at getting a 2m beam, by the way, so he can work more 
stations in the UKAC contests than he can with his vertical.)

 From what I've seen, very few people expect to start contesting and 
immediately expect to win; many more do so because of the social side 
that surrounds it. It's the chatting about it outside of the contest, 
the planning at the pub, and the meeting up for a couple of beers after 
the event that does it.

(If you just want a certificate, enter an obscure category of CQ WPX: I 
somehow got one for all of about 500 points as a result of logging the 
QSOs I made whilst testing an antenna that weekend last year...)

Cheers,
Rob, M0VFC

On 24/01/2011 14:19, Chris Rolinson G7DDN wrote:
> "No, because it's not either-or".
>
> In which case, may I respectfully suggest that as many contests as possible have an "S&P only" section, a "run-only" section and a ""mixed S&P and run" section? (objection solved?)
>
> And in addition may I also propose...
>
> 1. That the RSGB introduce some kind of Foundation-based contest, where ONLY foundation licence holders can run - that should encourage some new blood to try contesting out without getting "swamped" with 400w+ signals. After all Foundation license holders are usually only just getting over being mike-shy when they come on air...
>
> 2. That the 2m/70cm UKACs (and maybe other VHF/UHF contests) have some kind of section that rewards, in some way, taking part with a vertical antenna - I recall that Callum brought something like this up in the past and for the life of me, I cannot think of one good reason against it.
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> In case it is not obvious, I am not being awkward for the sake of it;  these suggestions are aimed at getting more NEW stations interested in contesting on the basis that they can actually ACHIEVE something within a given event.
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> Doesn't the future of UK contesting depend on getting more people interested in it?
>
> Chris G7DDN
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