[VHFcontesting] My 2 cents

[Keith Morehouse]

Distance scoring has been tried in various VHF Springs. It shows....a
benefit to the normal high-population areas of the US (surprise !), except
maybe on 6...

Jay W9RM

Keith Morehouse
via Droid Inc2
On Jan 3, 2015 8:56 PM, "Dave Olean" <k1whs at metrocast.net> wrote:

> Hi Herb,
>    I worked you in my first VHF contest in 1962. It was the September VHF
> QSO party. Actually my brother worked you. (We had to share our station, so
> we took turns using different calls for each contest.) You had 327 QSOs in
> 25 sections. Arn K1WHT had 48 QSOs in 5 sections all on 144 MHz. We had
> just gotten our licenses about a month earlier. I remember the rig. We had
> a 6360 transmitter at about 8 watts on AM, and a war surplus receiver that
> had a 24 volt dynamotor for the B+. The antenna was an 8 element Telrex
> yagi at about 30 ft fed with RG-59 surplus coax that looked a tad green
> inside.
>    I would have to agree with you and K1DY. The last thing we need is more
> categories. Beyond that, I am unsure of what should be done. I am really
> torn as to the right direction to take. After 52 years, I still love the
> idea of VHF contests, as they build activity. I think all the rule changes
> over the years has possibly diminished activity rather than helped it.
>    I would want to encourage activity in the more remote areas of the
> country. Possibly distance scoring is a good idea. That coupled with
> announcing rover locations and similar ideas could help those guys who
> travel to the hinterlands.  I also think that entirely new contests might
> be organized to build activity. Surely, what we have been doing the last
> decade has not worked. Maybe a cumulative effort over many weekends for
> shorter time periods each weekend might  be a possibility. That might
> discourage big mountaintop efforts in favor of more streamlined
> operations.  How about scoring stations in certain areas with a higher
> point value? As an example, draw a circle 200 miles from the center of
> major metro areas and assign a higher point value to those stations beyond
> that circle. If I earned 1 point for a close in contact and 10 points for
> working VE1SKY 350 miles away, you can bet I would be looking for VE1SKY.
> Then imagine VE1SKY's score if he could work a pile of 10 point contacts.
> He could be competitive. Scoring could be done by utilizing 6 digit grid
> squares in software. That would encourage people to aim their antennas away
> from the normal VHF activity centers. I am just throwing out crazy half
> baked ideas. We need to shake things up.What we have now is broken. For my
> part, I try to get on and have fun each time.
>    I hope you don't quit VHF Herb. HF stinks in the summertime.
>
> 73
> Dave K1WHS
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herb Krumich via VHFcontesting" <
> vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
> To: "VHF Contesting Reflector" <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2015 10:46 PM
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] My 2 cents
>
>
>  As far as I am concerned, VHF contesting went down hill when the ARRL
>> caved and started having limited multi.Once that was done, small units of
>> stations, started leaving their microwave equipment at home.Little by
>> little it started the microwave downfall. It was a very bad idea.There are
>> far to many categories for so few stations availableI have depleted my very
>> large contest station after working VHF contest's for nearly 50 years.The
>> only available bands I can now use are 144 and 432 which will mainly be
>> used for EMEJust my 2 centsHerb K2LNSMy spring antenna work will be putting
>> up a very large low band system
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