[VHFcontesting] Feeling like a frustrated old dinosaur and giving up.

[Jim Stahl]

Another downside to the FT8ing of VHF contests: getting new people exposed.

It’s pretty easy to tell a friend to push the “50” button on his radio (or scroll to 50.xxx), connect the 40 meter dipole, and know what grid square he is in.

Telling him to do that,  get FT8, and then teach him the ins and outs of FT8 in VHF contests, just isn’t going to happen.


73  -  Jim   K8MR



> On Jan 23, 2018, at 10:26 AM, Keith Morehouse <w9rm at calmesapartners.com> wrote:
> 
> Yes, that is exactly what would happen and what I would do, too, unless the
> rules specified otherwise.
> 
> It's all very simple.  Just remember that the idea of CONTESTING is to make
> the maximum amount of points possible.  In VHF contests, you can use ANY
> mode possible.  Select the one that's best at the time for maximum
> efficiency.
> 
> If you don't know CW and a guy is weak, go ahead and use FT8 - good move !
> It's 5AM and 6 isn't open, so you're hitting MSK144 M/S hard - good move !
> You're in New Jersey, there are plenty of loud locals on 6, even though
> there is no Es and you're on SSB - good move !
> You're in New Jersey, there are plenty of locals, you have added bands and
> are also hitting 2/222/432/+ hard - good move !
> You're in western Colorado, there is no such thing as a local, 6 is closed
> and you're on FT8 - maybe best of a bad situation !
> You're in western Colorado, there are no locals, 6 is closed and you're
> running MSK144 - probably better !
> The band is stompin' loud on Es, you've run W9RM off 50.137 and you're now
> running 250/hr on SSB - good move !
> The Es opening of the year is happening and you and everyone else are
> trashing each other on 50.313 FT8 - STUPID move !
> 
> The last example hurts everybody on the band, reducing everyone's
> efficiency and turning the entire lower end of 6 into a signal-less
> wasteland.  Don't say it doesn't happen - it does and I've seen it time
> after time during the 2017 Es season.  A contester back east sent me a
> private message earlier saying they were working FT8 on 50.313 this weekend
> BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE THE SIGNALS WERE.  Everybody is part of that problem.
> 
> The whole idea of contesting and competition is to increase your score.
> Methods and procedures have been evolving for decades to this end -
> improving score.  NOW, for the first time in MY contesting life (40+
> years), a method has come along, embraced by the masses, that actually
> DECREASES efficiency (and possibly score) in MANY cases.  I can't see any
> WIN for contesting in general if FT8 becomes the dominant mode on 6M.
> 
> -W9RM
> 
> 
> Keith J Morehouse
> Managing Partner
> Calmesa Partners G.P.
> Olathe, CO
> 
> On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 6:44 AM, RT Clay <rt_clay at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> 
>> Multi-mode works in a big HF contest where there are lots of people on and
>> also different modes are forced to use different frequencies by license
>> regulations.
>> 
>> On VHF+ it would just lead to manufactured contacts: around here people
>> would just sit on 144.200 and cycle through the possible modes.
>> 
>> Tor
>> N4OGW