[VHFcontesting] Rural area Sprinting is a waste of time

[Joshua M. Arritt]

Ken Sturgill wrote:

 
If I was in a urban area maybe there would be enough activity to keep my 
interest but not here in the backwoods.

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Same operating situation here in sticks of EM97 -- only worked the 10pm 
hour, and only worked one station (K8GUN in FM09). But to me, that was 
worth it.  Sure beats sitting at home in the geographic hole calling CQ 
and having no one call back. 
Really rough condx, given the cold front.  The wind also forced me to 
use the short mast on the truck, as I didn't have time to run guy sets 
or anything fancy. 

RE: lower participation in VHF/UHF -- this is surprising, given the 
popularity of all-in-one boxes like the '706, '100, '897, etc.  Could it 
be Neil Postman's Sesame Street theory creeping into ham radio, where 
younger generations' attention spans have been so drastically damaged by 
super-quick/flashy media and instant gratification, that the quiet calm 
of 50+MHz just isn't turning anyone on anymore?  Seems the sentiments I 
run into most when talking to folks about VHF/UHF boil down to the fact 
folks just don't have the patience to run slow rates.  These are folks 
who have never experienced a good 6 meter opening during a contest.  
They're also folks who give up after 6-8 CQ DX calls on 75 meters. 

Looking forward to June! 

73,

  - Josh / KF4YLM