[VHFcontesting] Contesting Philosophy

[Duane - N9DG]

In line bellow:


--- On Thu, 2/26/09, Lew Sayre <lew at dsl-only.net> wrote:


> K5QE has done a very nice job of setting forth his
> philosophy of VHF
> contesting.  He makes an excellent case for the
> establishment of assisted
> classes for all VHF contesting.  I really enjoy the finding
> of the other
> station as much as the actual making of the QSO.

This fits my profile too. To me a contest Q is both finding and making them. I personally have no desire whatsoever to use skeds or spotting networks in contest.

> If finding stations isn't fun for you, then you
> should be able to use
> packet systems, skimmers, FM alerting nets, telephones,
> internet, smoke
> signals-whatever. I should not have to compete against you
> though because
> I'm just using my little brain and single radio station
> without assistance.

I disagree. By doing this I think there is a huge danger of turning all VHF contests into events where the "winning skill" becomes who is better at the logistics of lining up schedules ahead of time and/or real-time networking. Will those who have a slate full of skeds be as inclined to try and make unscheduled Q's with those who are unassisted? Isn't scheduling logistics one of the key features of grid circling?

BTW I do not consider *standalone* CWSkimmer "assistance", it is simply powerful technology that I can apply inside my station to find signals. Once it is *networked* to others, then yes, it becomes part of the spotting network, i.e. "assistance".

> If your fun is working the stations, then knock yourself
> out and use all the
> technology, guile, wits and systems to work all of them
> that you can.
> Eventually I see this class as being nothing but an
> internet game played on
> a computer where radio waves are the weakest link.


> The old fashioned use of the big knob on the front of
> the radio and
> calling CQ and personal knowledge of tropospheric and
> ionospheric conditions
> all helps me alone to find stations.....and then work them.
>  It's a 2 part
> series for me when contesting: 1)Find a station 2)Work the
> station and a lot of them

I wouldn't try position it as an "old fashioned" style of operating at all. And I wouldn't put any arbitrary restrictions on what technology is used "within" the station to find and work others either. I would only insist that all technology that is being used be wholly contained within the station's defined location. And that "outside means" of finding stations, such as spotting networks of any kind not be allowed.

>     I don't think it's fair to compete against K5QE
> when he uses all the
> aids to find his stations for him.  We should have separate
> categories
> because otherwise it is like one station against many
> stations all in 1
> category.

Unlike HF I think in VHF contesting there is a real danger of losing participation by having large numbers of participants being spot or sked driven. There simply aren't enough players in any given VHF contest to have a large percentage of them only, or mostly, working skeds or spots instead of calling CQ and tuning / searching the bands. If assistance were allowed then what would the casual op need to do to work anyone? Would they only find activity by making skeds themselves?


> We should be able
> to accomodate newer technologies by recognizing the
> assistance and classify it as such.

I wouldn't co-mingle the notion of "new technology" with "assistance", they are not the same thing. There's lots of new technology that can be used and none of it would be assistance anymore than using a radio that scans, or CW/voice keyers, or computer logging etc. are now. It is when the information about who there is to work is provided by means provided by networking other ops, and other ops equipment that is outside of the contest station's defined location it becomes assistance.

Perhaps my perceptions (for ~25 years of VHF contesting) of what VHF contests were in years past is off. I always thought, perhaps naively, that skeds weren't commonly used, or simply were not used for many of the Q's that ops made. So why now? Yes? No?

Duane
N9DG