[VHFcontesting] Trends in VHF/UHF Weak Signal Operating

[Jerry]

I had several locals..telling me 'I was Loco' for monitoring 6M all the 
time I am in the shack (stand alone 6M stn)  I convinced a group of them 
to try 6M after the local 2M FM Net on the clubs Repeater one evening ! 
Many comments were "Wow..I have never heard a signal on this Band 
before..and I have owned this Rig for many, many years" !  I gave them a 
couple /B freq. to put into memory.."Have a look every once in 
awhile..maybe you will hear the band is open" ! Then.. every once in 
awhile, one will tell me they 'Do Hear the /B off and On" ! So when I 
tell them that is MS pings they are hearing.. "What is That" is the 
Reply ! So.. many of us OT'rs are probably Guilty of 'Not Sharing Info' 
often enough..and many more are still the 'Plug and Play HF, FM Utility 
Op's that any interested young ones can't get a reasonable explanation 
of anything 'New' (well..to them !) Most of the 'Seasoned Vets' I will 
call them, locally..it's '2M is for FM, HF is the AM 40M Gang..then the 
80M evening Traffic Net...and 10, 15, 20M for DX..(or chatting with your 
friend across the Country 'Every Day' about the same things ! )  I had a 
small group in the shack one time..showing them what WSJT can do for MS 
and EME.  They were All impressed..but afterwards..they stated that 
'None of them Owned a PC at home' to use it !   I am sure they still 
'turn that Big Knob to change the channels on the TV as well' ! :o)
You should have heard the 'Uproar on FM when I mentioned I have 300W on 
2M' !
Going to be a 'Slow Growing Process'..not sure if there is any 'quick 
fixes' !
Jerry
VE6CPP
On 2/15/2014 11:06 AM, Dan Evans wrote:
> I believe Zack is right.  Most hams are afraid of anything less than plug and play.  So they are not willing to invest in a transverter that they think would be too complicated to operate...
>
> And yes, you and I know that modern transverters are not that difficult to get on the air.  But, do the "other guys" know that?
>
> I still think advertising is the key.  Some experienced ops answering questions in the forums will help (I've posted a few times).  But I would like to see some articles about station building and operating by some experienced ops.  Articles in QST and CQ are great, Eham.net is a great place as well.  And lets face it, Eham will publish just about anything, hi hi.
>
> For example, how about a couple of short articles on buying a modern 222 transverter, how to hook it up and get on the air with it.  And maybe  what you did with it when it was up and running...
>
> 73
> Dan
>