[VHFcontesting] Insights to Consider

[Kenneth E. Harker]

On Wed, Jul 21, 2004 at 07:11:10AM -0400, Ev Tupis wrote:
>                 Imagine the outcry in the HF community if the committee 
> that heavily influenced THEIR future was made up of Technician-class 
> operators. <giggle>

This implies that the committee looking into potential VHF contest rules 
changes lacks the qualifications to do so.  I think this is patently false.
The members of the VHF Contest Rules Subcommittee are:

K1KI: New England Division Director.  Very active HF contester who does 
      operate the VHF contests.

K1JX: Decades and decades of VHF contest experience.  Has hosted many 
      multi-op VHF contest stations.  Holds New England QRP Portable 
      record score in the June VHF contest.  Author of CQ magazine articles
      about VHF contesting.  Significant work on 6 meter antenna designs.
      Etc., etc.

W5ZN: ARRL Vice President.  Decades and decades of VHF+ operating 
      experience, including many contests.  Has WAS on 50 MHz and 
      144 MHz.  Very active on microwaves: 31 grids confirmed on 2.3 GHz,
      20 grids confirmed on 10 GHz.
       
KM0T: Since 1999, one of the few stations active on all bands 50 MHz 
      to 24 GHz from the far western edge of midwestern VHF activity.
      Also active on HSMS.  Only the thirtieth ham ever to earn VUCC 
      on 902 MHz.  VUCC #21 on 24 GHz.
 
N0AX: Northwest Division CAC Member.  Editor of the ARRL Rate Sheet contesting
      newsletter.  Author of _Ham Radio for Dummies_, now in wide circulation.
      Frequent contributor to QST, ARRLWeb, and other publications.  Has
      been a judge at World Radiosport Team Championship.  Active in 
      the VHF contest from the Pacific Northwest.

AA7A: Southwestern Division CAC Member.  Ned was actually my first-ever 
      random two meter meteor scatter QSO on SSB.  Very well-rounded 
      VHF and HF contest and DXing experience includes everything from
      DXpeditioning to WAS on 50/144 to EME operation.  Very active
      in VHF contesting.  Getting on 6M EME.

W3ZZ: Decades and deacdes of VHF contest experience, esp. in the M/U 
      class.  Current editor of "The World Above 50 MHz" column in QST, 
      former manager of the CQ World Wide VHF Contest, does product 
      reviews of VHF weak signal gear for QST, maintains the VHF/UHF 
      standings records for the ARRL, etc.

N7NG: ARRL Membership Service Department Manager.  Contest rules and the 
      sponsorship of ARRL contests are ultimately the responsibility of 
      the Membership Services Committee, composed of Directors, but managed
      by Wayne.

N1ND: ARRL Contest Branch Manager.  Dan doesn't actually operate many 
      contests himself, HF or VHF, but he is responsible for their 
      implementation and management.  It makes sense to include him 
      in any discussion that might involve new categories, different 
      rules and penalties, different scoring, etc.

So, not only are these individuals your VHF and contesting peers, they 
represent a reasonable geographic distribution across the country, and 
a reasonable distribution of VHF and microwave experiences.

-- 
Kenneth E. Harker WM5R
kenharker at kenharker.com
http://www.kenharker.com/