[VHFcontesting] 2019 January VHF Contest Results on Line

[nosigma at aol.com]

I dont do  just FM, I work W4IY multi op PH and Digital every June......

I dont like being on FT8 but when the sporadic e is gone, running is fruitless and we have worked everything on the band scope across the bands FT8 is the place to go to slowly add QSO's and multi's while waiting for the next opening or fresh local meat to show up.  As many have said, and I agree, FT8 is a useful tool.  Being able to QSY on FT8 (we didn't do that, but saw a few who did) would make it more useful.

What frustrated and shocked me was how many were not leaving 6m FT8 when the cloud appeared at various times and locations making contacts at almost any point on the continent possible at one time or another on PH & CW.  I was horrified in the last 2 hrs when normally 6m is loaded with PH and CW, but despite some really good openings it seemed like everyone stuck to or migrated to running on FT8 chasing a few more grids.  It ended up being a self fulfilling prophecy, everyone jammed in there so the bands died and it was foolish to be anywhere else, Baa, Baa, Moo Moo, follow the herd.

I see the problem as one of luring people off of FT8 and onto PH & CW.

I suggest holding FT8 to one point on all bands below 902.  Let the points grow from 902 up to get more activity, even if it is FT8 up there.  Double the QSO points for PH and CW on all bands to make it worth the "risk" of not following the herd to 6m FT8 and parking there all contest long.  It will be harder to win without the upper bands, which would motivate more to add them and use them.

73
John
KM4KMU 






On Tuesday, June 18, 2019 JamesDuffey <jamesduffey at comcast.net> wrote:
The results writeup for the January 2019 VHF Contest are now on line:

< https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2019/Jan-VHF-2019-FinalFullResults.pdf >

The digital modes, in particular FT8,  played a major role in the January contest, increasing the logs submitted significantly. But the overall QSOs made in the contest remained the same. So, those additional digital QSOs came from the higher bands. I think this is not good. Please read my comments on this in the writeup and think about what it means for the future of VHF contesting, if you like that future, and what can be done to address the continued erosion of the bands above 144MHz in contesting. 

Thanks for all who participated in the January contest. - Duffey KK6MC


James Duffey KK6MC
Cedar Crest NM
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