[VHFcontesting] The January Contest

[Kutzko, Sean, KX9X]

Hi folks-

I see its time for the annual lively discussion about the January VHF Contest.

I'm a baseball guy; I don't care about football. So I went to NFL.com to review the post-season schedule for 2012:

NFL Schedule:

First weekend in January: Wild Card Weekend; 2 big games on Saturday, 2 big games on Sunday.
Second weekend in January: Divisional Playoffs: 2 big games on Saturday, 2 big games on Sunday.
Third weekend in January: Conference Championships: 2 big games on Sunday.
Fourth Weekend in January: Pro-Bowl (exhibition game, not a big deal to most people)

It seems to me that, with the exception of the fourth weekend, there are big games throughout January. If football is the argument for moving the weekend, it's going to be tough finding a weekend that doesn't have a big game.

So now let's look at contest conflicts:

First weekend in January: RTTY Roundup.
Second weekend: NAQP CW (12-hour HF)
Third weekend: NAQP SSB (12-hour HF)
Fourth weekend: CQ 160M CW.

>From an administrative standpoint, I'm not thrilled about having two ARRL flagship events on the same weekend. Having RTTY Roundup and January VHF on the same weekend would create friction with folks who want to operate both events. In all fairness, that could be said of any weekend where there is more than one contest. 

The NAQP's are not organized or run by ARRL. I have nothing to do with them at all. The "right hand not knowing what he left hand is doing" doesn't apply here. NAQP's are administered separately from ARRL events, by a completely different group of people. They're not even in the same building as me.

That leaves the fourth weekend, which is CQ 160M. There are a lot of operators that like 160 and VHF+ and want to do both events. I've heard from several of them within the last year. I've also been told that the last time the January VHF Contest was on the same weekend at CQ 160, the volume of hate mail from the crossover operators was considerable. It's also one week further from the winter solstice.

Based on all this info, having the January VHF Contest run on one of the weekends of NAQP is the most preferable, in my opinion.

- The other contest those weekends is a 12-hour affair
- Ops that want to compete in both ARRL January and CQ 160 CW are able to do so.
- No conflicts with other ARRL events.

If there's a game on when I'm doing a contest, I turn the volume down and keep tabs on it while I'm contesting.

However, I don't get to vote on this matter.

If you feel the January VHF contest needs to change weekends, tell your Director. They make the votes that change the contest rules. I'll circle whichever weekend on the calendar they tell me to.

73,

Sean Kutzko KX9X
Contest Branch Manager
ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio
225 Main Street
Newington, CT  06111 USA
(860) 594-0232
email: kx9x at arrl.org