[VHFcontesting] ARRL Proposal for a combined 10 Meter & 6 Meter Contest

[Jeff Thomas]

I personally think adding a HF band to a VHF Contest is a bad idea. If I
 wanted to work a HF contest, then there are plenty (arguably too many) 
of them already available. Nothing against those that enjoy HF contesting, but there are reasons many of us 
prefer VHF/UHF and have little to no interest in HF contesting. 

I suspect the addition of 10m will create even more challenges for the rovers. They are already an endangered species in many areas of the country....including mine.

If you get aggravated by the tendency for everyone to flock to 6m and ignore the higher bands when six is open, then just imagine what adding 10m will do? 


To fix a problem, you first have to properly identify it.  So here is an idea for this new ARRL VHF committee.....

Rather than this continual "guessing" at what will bring VHF/UHF Contest interest levels back - for which the results speak for themselves - maybe this committee could actually go find out what the root problems are? 

Maybe pull 2-3 decades of log files. Identify the stations that were consistently active for years then suddenly "disappeared" from the VHF contesting scene in the last decade. Then go poll these folks to see why they are no longer active and which contests the enjoyed the most? I suspect the answers will be interesting. Reveal that adding another band will not fix anything and may well do more harm than good.


Just my 2 pennies worth and opinions will obviously vary.


73
Jeff
WA4ZKO