[VHFcontesting] Skeds et al

[w2fca at cs.com]

Larry Tree Tyree  N6TR <tree at kkn.net> wrote:

>Well - maybe VHF Contest is really an oxymoron, and we are just debating
>if the emphasis is on VHF or Contest.

It's probably more of a carry-over from the normal operating.

For example - If I take a "DXpedition" to a rare grid or two, odds are I'll be there for a fairly short time, that is, I may go out to the end of Cape Cod which is rare, but I'll probably only be there for a day. If you want to work me it's easier to set up a sked. On the other hand, I doubt it's normal to make HF DXpedition skeds. K1B or PW0T is gonna be there for a while, and I'm not going to send them a note four weeks in advance saying "hey look for me on 14.313 on 5/15 at 1138Z" I'll just look for the noise centered around some frquency and jump in the fray.

Skeds are very common in MS work whether in non peak times or even in meteor showers. I had 9 skeds last fall in one big shower and got 7 new grids out of it. A lot of my contest skeds are MS.

Skeds also help the narrow antenna syndrome. One of my arrays is so sharp that one brake notch on a Ham-M is enough to lose a signal even when his antenna is aimed at me. I've worked half a two meter sprint at the same time as K1TEO and not heard him at all even though we both run power simply because the antennas are so sharp. I don't have that problem with stations like 9A1A - I hear them no matter where I'm aimed.

It's probably just what one is used to - if more VHF ops are used to using skeds for non-contest contacts they're going to bring that along to contesting.

Frank
W2FCA