[UK-CONTEST] 144Mhz Trophy --lack of activity

[Roger Thawley]

George,
	I agree entirely with your point about new entrants having access to
HF from the outset and agree that it was a mistake to allow this. The
ability to run higher power is a poor choice of incentive to progress
through license levels.

I'd have voted for a licensing arrangement along the lines of:

Level one - 6M and up - 100w max.
Level two - 6M and up - 400w max, HF - 100w max.
Level three - Access all areas - 1kW max.


Roger, G0BSU


-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of G0JKZ
Sent: 09 September 2011 09:18
To: 'UK contest Committee'
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 144Mhz Trophy --lack of activity

I think the problem now is down to the licencing changes. Back in the day,
vhf and uhf were the only places a class b holder could operate.
Consequently, 2m Field day was a very active contest. Now, because everyone
has everything from day 1, most people just stick to HF where a few watts
will go further. If I was an m6 now, I'd not look at 2m. There is limited
new multimode equipment and not very much activity!  I'll get my HF set and
10 watts and talk cross continent reliably instead. Its not the fault of the
amateur but the licencing system. It should always have been frequencies for
exam passes, not power levels.

I'm just as guilty. I sold off my VHF UHF multimode set because it was not
used enough to justify it. I had a 9 ele tonna and a 100w linear and very
rarely heard anyone on any part of the band, even the fm section was dead.
So.. bye bye it went and funded some new HF antennas.

George
G0JKZ