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

[Richard Staples]

Hows this for a different slant on past posts and comments

From a fixed station ..quite often low power perspective  the 2 mtr trophy throws up a number of possibilities.

Can I just say that the UKAC contests have been a fantastic success in what they are actually there to do - generate activity and if you cast your mind back to days of yore ..144 and VHF / UHF was a pretty dour place to be except when there was good conditions.

Please don't say ...well it still is ...because its not if you are prepared to look for it. Thats the difference between contesting and working dx as it were.

At the start of the 2 mtr Trophy I had high hopes of working  x number of stations - overall and per hour - thinking that there maybe some "run off " from the UKAC contests.

Sadly this was not the case.

Most people can "book " Tuesday night into their schedule better than saying ...sorry ..i'm doing the 2 mtr trophy this weekend ..sod the family and any other arrangements ...that's me I'm doing it !

Fortunately last weekend was clear for me ..and I decided to give the first 6 hrs on Saturday a bash and then came back for a second helping on Sunday with another 6 !

It was clear from the off  that with 25 w and single antenna calling cq  was a none starter ..( on a ukac night completely the reverse ) so you are now down to s & p or a combination of.

The distinct lack of local qrm  meant that dx'y stuff  jo31,32 23, jn18,28,29,37 in88  squares  etc were audible but obviously weak..its a good scutch from here in io83.

Even trying to work the south coast big guns takes some doing because the pa's,on's dl's etc are stronger than we are

So go for quality rather than quantity...its for sure that local stations to me also worked many of the same stations.

My best dx took 45 mins to work ...but i stuck at it until the condx and their beam heading allowed me to work them.

Having said all this there MUST be a way to encourage more fixed station activity during the 24 hour contests.

Its not just the 2 mtr trophy ...May 144 and March 144/432 are much the same from a fixed station view point 

So we need to move forward to get more activity in the fixed station sections  -  how ?  now that's the question !

Constructive ideas needed  !!!

Cheers Richard G4HGI




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