[VHFcontesting] VHF contest thoughts

[Rick R]

A few brief thoughts:
1. Why not make the June Limited-Multi category a 6 band (ABCD9E) instead of 
4 band (ABCD), rather than restricting the contest for everybody to 6 bands? 
It would encourage those limited multi who now submit 3-4 bands to add 
another 1-2 bands.
2. As an active Rover for over 10 years, who has been through many 
iterations of stations and vehicles, it has been a growth experience for me 
personally, and those who have I have worked on the air, and have worked 
with in adding bands. Anything that restricts rover ops, scores, tactics, 
bands, club aggregates seems non-constructive. Separating them into 
different competitive categories might be a more effective strategy for 
score reporting and avoiding the angst that we seem to be facing about 
packs, captives and circling.
3. Competition and adding bands is good for radio in general and for 
contesters! Two super-VHF-UHF east coast single ops both added bands this 
year. (one got 5G on, and the other added 24G) Their apparent head-to-head 
competition is thrilling, and both of them chase down us rovers to make the 
contest fun and rewarding for us too!
4. The San Bernardino Microwave Society has introduced a weekend of 
Microwave contesting (2.3G and higher) for the first weekend in May of this 
year, which appears to give almost all geographies a chance at mountain-top 
operations and decent operating conditions. Although their format limited 
entries to club aggregate scores, the idea could be expanded into a full 
blown Microwave contest weekend, having single ops, multi-ops, rovers, and 
club aggregates, whether a distance scoring scheme or grid multiplier scheme 
is used. Perhaps this is similar to the consideration being given to the 
replacement of the UHF contest with a 10G cumulative microwave format. I 
highly suggest that any Microwave contest include bands from 903 and up.
5. I like a lot of different types of events and venues, keeping my skills 
and equipment in a ready-mode, and expanding capabilities and enjoyment.
6. After all the public discussions on the reflectors, could we have some 
kind of a referendum on potentially remodeled proposals before the committee 
makes decisions?
Rick, K1DS/R

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