[VHFcontesting] Thoughts on the Digital Modes and VHF Contesting

[Alan Larson]

  It is part of the principle of the contests that we give more multipliers
for making more difficult contacts.  We get a few for local contacts, and
more for the distant ones that require more skill.

  FT8 (and some of the other digital modes) makes the distant contacts and
large number of multipliers much easier.

  Perhaps we should disallow using those digital contacts for multiplier
credit.  You still could get QSO points for the contact, but to get the
multiplier for the distant contact, you need to use the more difficult
mode.  This suggestion is unlikely to fly in this form, but perhaps as an
alternate, limit the number of multipliers from digital to 5 or 10 percent
of the total multipliers on a band.  Say if you get 30 multipliers on 6
meters, you can only claim 3 of them from digital contacts.  That way, it
will allow digital for the really hard ones, but the ones that can be done
on traditional modes would be.

  Or perhaps having digital contests or entries be separate from the
non-computer processed modes.

        Alan