[VHFcontesting] VHF Contests - was W3ZZ's QST Contesting Article

[Bob Witte, K0NR]

I got a little behind on email and found the interesting
discussion on VHF contests piled up in my inbox.
Thanks to W3ZZ for writing the article that initiated
the dialog and thanks to the list for having a rational
discussion instead of a flame war. I agree with many of
the comments and appreciate the one I don't agree with. 

First question is "what is the problem?", if there is
one. To me, it is clear that activity in VHF contests
(ok, based on my experience) is down over the past
decade or so. The data on the submitted logs seems to
support this contention, however, I don't think the number
of logs submitted is the issue....it is only an indicator
of activity. You may argue that it is an imperfect 
indicator of contest activity, which it is. However, I 
argue that with the proliferation of computers, it has
gotten easier to submit a log over the last decade. 
So, if anything, there should be more people sending in
logs (all other factors being equal). The problem
is declining activity in VHF contests.

Chasing that next grid or contact on VHF is somewhat
like fishing, but there is at least one big difference.
As a fisherman, I am not dependent on other people
going out to fish since the number of potential
"fish contacts" is not helped by more fisherman.
As a VHFer, I do need to have other people participating
so that I have someone to work. To me, this defines the
basic purpose of a VHF contest....to concentrate activity
during a particular time period so that we all collectively
make more contacts. (We can also collectively test our
stations, improve our operating techniques, improve the
state of the art, ...) The method for doing this is to have
a contest, with a particular set of rules that rewards 
certain types of radio activity. Here in lies the challenge,
how to craft a set of rules that actually does promote activity. 

You'll notice from the email discussion that there are 
various constituencies that are involved in VHF contests.
There are single ops, multiple ops, rovers, QRPers,
big-gun ABCD9EFGHIJ stations, little pistol ABD stations, etc.
If we have rules that encourage different types of operators
to enjoy the contest, then we will tend to have more activity. 
This is basically what the different categories of contest
entries attempt to do. We have to be careful not to water
it down to the point that the number of categories equals
the number of contesters :-)

I do resonate with W3ZZ's observation that these "VHF contests"
are really "microwave contests". For the most part, in every
category that exists today, you will benefit GREATLY from 
being QRV on all of the bands. This is not a bad thing...
encouraging activity on the lesser used and more challenging
bands encourages people to develop new capabilities. 

There does not appear to be a category really aimed at your
starter VHF operator, whether that is defined as an FT-100/IC-706
(ABD) station or whatever. I don't think that would necessarily
stop someone from giving VHF contesting a try, but it is more
likely to keep them from returning time and time again. They
will soon figure out that the scoring is designed to 
reward ABCD9EFGHIJ stations leaving them with the choices of
a) Just do the contest for fun
b) add more bands to their station  or
c) go find something else to do

Keep in mind that the ABCD9EFGHIJ stations benefit from the
ABD guy's participation. Again, the more fisherman we have the
more fish can be caught. So this does not have to be an
"us versus them" issue. I would support having an entry category
that is tuned to the ABD or ABCD operator. It doesn't have
to apply to all contests....as W3ZZ pointed out, the contest
formats are all basically the same and some variety
could add some interest.

An important factor in the Rocky Mountain region is how many 
rovers participate. We have many grids that are not occupied 
by a VHF enthusiast (or perhaps any radio amateur), so we 
are dependent on portables and rovers to activate grids.
AA4ZZ explained the rover situation quite nicely and
I agree with his conclusions. 

While I think the structure of the contest (that is, the
rules and scoring mechanism) are part of the issue here, other
things need to be considered as well. Local promotion of
VHF contest activity, active Elmering, vibrant VHF clubs,
simple rewards such as pins and mugs, etc. are all part of the solution.

73,
Bob K0NR
(formerly KB0CY)
k0nr at arrl.net
http://www.rwitte.com
Rocky Mountain VHF Plus-- http://www.qsl.net/rmvhf