[VHFcontesting] Digital Questions

[Keith Morehouse]

I'm very concerned about where the VHF bands (mostly 6M) are heading.  The
wholesale adoption of JT65 & now FT8 WSJT modes has reduced SSB & CW
activity on 6M to near zero.  What this means from a contesting
perspective, something everybody reading this should have a stake in (this
IS a CONTESTING mail list), is people are trading off high run-rate modes
for much less efficient, albeit effective, digital modes.  This is not
pushing the art of contesting forward.  This phenomenon is limited to VHF
contests for the time being, as they are not mode-specific, but this
appears to be the first time in contesting history where many people accept
a step backwards in the ability to create score by using a much less
efficient run mode.

-W9RM

Keith J Morehouse
Managing Partner
Calmesa Partners G.P.
Olathe, CO

On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 7:57 AM, Michael Clarson <wv2zow at gmail.com> wrote:

>  VHF and up contests differ from almost all other contests in that
> there is only goal -- make the contact. Can't get through on SSB?
> Switch to CW. Mixed mode contact -- allowed. Should that point value
> be lowered? Of course not. The digital modes are just one more way to
> complete a QSO. I do have one complaint in VHF contests -- they only
> care about one thing -- grid squares.Gone are the prefix contest and
> the longer exchange in the VHF Sweepstakes -- that will slow the
> digital boys down a bit! --Mike, WV2ZOW