[VHFcontesting] Increasing VHF activity in contests and otherwise.

[James Duffey]

Like others, I have sat on the sidelines during this discussion, not quite knowing what to contribute. 

I have contested on every band that supports contests from 1.8 MHz to 1296MHz. I don't have the skills of George, nor the station of Marshall, but I can finish high or at the top of my class in the section, sometimes tops in the Division, and have occasionally put up a top ten finish nationally. I am not bragging, just to let you know a bit of my background. There are certainly differences, both big and small, from band to band, in contesting, but at the foundation of it all is making lots contacts in lots of different multipliers. While an early morning JA run is nice on 160M and helps the score, so is working N5JEH from 5 grid squares on 1296 while roving. I am not unique in this, I think that W9SZ has contested on even more bands than I have. 

Still, there is a HF/VHF dichotomy that exists and I think that this is bad for contesting in general and VHF activity in particular. I think that this is, in part, due to the way the ARRL has divided up the rules into three different documents and a fourth for suggested ethics and procedures for HF contests. Oddly there is no similar document for VHF operating. And many of the rules that exist on HF and not on VHF, and the other way round, are not due to any particular desire to improve the contest, or increase activity, or to make things more fair, but rather to plug loopholes, both real and perceived, that one op or another has found over time to take advantage of the rules. Why these have occurred in one frequency spectrum and not another is a mystery to me for the most part but so be it.  The difference between HF and VHF contesting exists in ARRL contests, because, in large part, the ARRL has defined it that way. That is not healthy. But I digress.

I find it interesting that lately, discussions on how to increase activity on VHF in general and VHF contesting in particular, morph to discussions on how to better incorporate the social aspects of the internet into VHF contesting. And that morphs into a HF vs VHF contesting Philosophy, and a North East vs the rest of the country discussion, and everyone says you don't know what VHF contesting is like where I live. 

Many advocate incorporating the CQ WW VHF rules on assistance to increase activity. Has anyone done an analysis of the CQ WW VHF scores and logs to determine if it has increased activity, either in the form of more QSOes (preferrably) or more entrants, or more call signs in logs since it was introduced? If so, I think that would go a long way to deciding this issue. I haven't seen the results of an analysis. Anyone?

OK, for the sake of discussion, lets say that assistance/announcements/self spotting (AASS) will increase activity. Lets also say that we can implement that so that everyone gets what they want, or the pain of implementation AASS gets equally spread among everyone so that everyone is equally unhappy. Now, moving on, what else can we do to increase activity?

Activity breeds activity. Get on. Encourage others to get on. I think this is the key. AASS is a second order contribution to increased activity.  

I am a rover. Although my home state is New Mexico, and I rove there a lot, I have roved from Arizona to Minnesota and most states in between. My observations of what increases and sustains activity in VHF contests is:

1. The presence of one or more well-equipped multiple-band stations that have a good operator(or operators), that are on the air for most or all of the contest, who spin the beam and call CQ, and who take the time to track and work rovers.

2. Several rovers who visit lots of grids, and a variety of grids; including those near populated areas, rare grids, and grids with good coverage. Rovers who work everyone.

3. Stations in category 1) who take the time out of a run to work the locals on all the bands they have.

4. Promotion of activity prior to the contest. 

5. Operators who know and use CW. 

6. Contest clubs who put in an effort to generate entries in the club competition category.

7. Current VHF operators who evangelize and elmer to those who have VHF capability, but are not currently active in VHF contesting.  

If AASS can increase my score significantly, I am all for it. But I think that there is a bigger bang for the buck if we try to do as many of the items above as possible. That is not to say the rules shouldn't be changed, I think that they should, but we can do a lot with what we have without changing the rules. - Duffey KK6MC

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KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM