[UK-CONTEST] New contest proposal

[dave at g4buo.com]

At the risk of this appearing like ex-HFCC Chairmen lining up to support
the current incumbent, I must say I agree with much of what Chris G3SJJ
says. Sadly I do not see any evidence that there would be sufficient G
activity to make this new contest a success. G activity in IOTA is below
the levels we ought to expect – and being on an island we have an inbuilt
advantage.

Unfortunately I think the time has come to drop the 21/28 contest from the
calendar. We should be encouraging Gs to support the IOTA Contest which is
the flagship HF contest for RSGB, and also encouraging Gs to enter the
CQWW Phone contest. Being only three weeks away from the present 21/28
date, it seems to me there must be many who at the moment have to choose
between one or the other.

73, Dave G4BUO

> Ed and Committee, thank you for a very timely, considered and precise
> response. I agree with all the points and conclusions.
>
> I do think the issue needs more thought and discussion. If it is deemed to
> retain the 21/28MHz contest then I would suggest a strong marketing and
> publicity campaign is undertaken. The profile of the event has already
> been raised on this reflector and it has been observed that M3/M6
> licencees
> were active. An article in Radcom would help, with suggestions of simple
> antennas, propagation information, postcode districts etc. This could then
> be
> coupled with a dynamic international campaign. We often see adverts for
> other contests on our reflector.
>
> If the eventual conclusion is that it is not worthwhile continuing the
> event I am not sure a replacement contest is really necessary. As you
> point of
> there are plenty of others on that weekend and also the RSGB has a solid
> portfolio of events throughout the year.
>
> 73 Chris G3SJJ
>