[VHFcontesting] CQ VHF Contest, a two band contest

[John AA5JG]

One of the problems that I think guides some decisions concerning this contest is that some people who set the contest rules believe that many hams don't enter VHF contests because they know they can't win without the microwaves, so lets make fewer bands so everyone has the chance of winning (at least in their minds). The ARRL proposed a similar thing for the June contest a year or 2 ago and thankfully it died.

Now this is probably a gross misconception because I don't think most contesters believe this.  I know going into every contest that I am not going to win, and I still get on and play and send in a log.  99.5% of the people who enter a VHF contest are not going to finish in the top 10 and most of them probably know that going into it.  However, if VHF contest activity is dying, this is a easy solution to look at-I don't believe it addresses the reason for the lowered activity, but it is a simple and non-offensive way to look at it.

Why don't we limit the ARRL DX contest to only 20-10 meters, so newer hams don't have to worry about putting up larger wire antennas for the low bands.  Or maybe only allow 160 and 80 meters for the sweepstakes so new hams don't have to worry about putting up beams.  That would make each of those contests much simplier.  ALso, since no new rig today includes 222mhz CW/SSB, eliminate it from the UHF contest (it isn't a UHF band anyways).  

This kind of thinking opens up all sorts of possibilities, most of them not good.

73s John AA5JG


---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Eric NM5M" <nm5m at aol.com>
Reply-To: Eric NM5M <nm5m at aol.com>
Date:  Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:00:08 -0600

>I still fail to understand why adding a 3rd or 4th band is so difficult.
>Individuals can always decide which bands to have operational.   If two
>bands are all you can do then that is fine, however restricting the format
>to only two bands because its simple keeps this contest from being more
>popular.
>
>Regards,
>
>Eric NM5M
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Jeffrey Embry" <jeffrey.embry at gmail.com>
>To: <VHFcontesting at contesting.com>
>Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 9:10 AM
>Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] CQ VHF Contest, a two band contest
>
>
>> I like the two-band approach primarily for the simplicity.  I don't
>> have to worry about antennas for other bands and I don't have to worry
>> about requesting moves to multiple bands.  Sometimes a laid back
>> contest is just what the doctor ordered.
>>
>> -- 
>> Jeff Embry, K3OQ
>> FM19je
>> ARCI #11643, FPQRP #-696,
>> QRP-L # 67, NAQCC #25, ARS #1733
>> AMSAT LM-2263
>>
>
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