[VHFcontesting] Changes to ARRL VHF Contest Rules

[James Duffey]

The club competition is good news. Participation in contests tracks  
closely with the club competition participation, so instituting club  
competition into the UHF contest may be the shot in the arm it needs  
to get increased competition.

Defining the 4 bands a limited rover can use is an OK move. When the  
rover rule revisions were made it was stated that they would see how  
things shook out and make modifications as necessary. They have done  
that. Good. It will not completely eliminate grid circling in the  
limited rover category; KG6TOA/r would have still won the limited  
rover category in the June contest with a score of about 48,000 if the  
new rules had been in place and one translates his score on the  
microwave bands down to the lower four bands. Now that is more  
competitive, and it is quite likely that a limited rover ont eh lower  
four bands could do this or better, after all, the second place  
limited rover, W3DHJ/r, only operated 2 bands, 6M and 2M and only went  
to 4 grids, yet still racked up 34,000 points. Now if KG6TOA works  
some sporadic E on 6M, that will jack up his score too. But at least  
it will be more competitive.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out this summer.  
There is lots of fun ahead. - Duffey

--
KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM