[VHFcontesting] Question to the group

[Tom]

I've had a thought about the activity level, and I have one very bizarre 
idea.

Please, don't shut the idea down without thinking about it.

Here in Michigan, Roger, W8IO has kick started the Michigan VHF-UHF 
Society, www.mivus.org  We, like others have discussed how to get people 
on the weak modes.

I did a quick study at my local club (The Holland ARC, Mich), and with 
33 people in attendance, there were 15 people with the IC-706's, 7000',s 
FT857's etc. yet, they are not on the bands. And yet, they have 2 meter 
antennas for talking to the repeaters. Hold on, here it comes.

What if we establish a 2 meter "Vertically Polarized" calling 
frequency.  If nothing else, 144.22, or 144.24 Doesn't matter. Doesn't 
matter that when the band opens these freqs will be in use for 
contesting and band openings. If nothing else, start a weekly net on 
this frequency, to get the FM folks an idea of what SSB will be like. I 
point out that here in the Grand Rapids/Holland area, a simple 6 element 
beam (h-pol), located on your roof with a rotor will let you talk to 
Detroit or Chicago or Milwaukee any day. They don't quite believe me.

There is no cost to this idea, and please do some market research in 
your town as to how many folks might be able to get on. And how to 
market it? Hang on tight for point 2. You, yes you get on all the local 
2 meter FM nets. There must be 8 of them a week within range of my 
house. You may start out with 2, it may grow, it may not. But hopefully, 
something will stick to the wall. And this doesn't have to be anything 
official.

We have to grow this somehow.

Tom Bosscher K8TB



On 2/23/2015 2:39 PM, Dave Olean wrote:
> Hi Duffy
> I would have to agree. We need people on the bands. The problem is not 
> the League rules. The problem is activity. There is no reason to get 
> on the VHF bands at this time, so no one gets on the VHF bands. (I am 
> a recent HF convert as a result)
>    I took a look at the ham population and was surprised to find that 
> the sheer number of hams is rather large in states that have almost no 
> VHF or microwave activity. So why is there more activity on VHF in the 
> Philadelphia, NJ, and NY area?