[VHFcontesting] A comment for those turning in their mics due to FT8

[Alex]

Many of the folks who are asking for change are currently on the digital modes. Look at your digital mode logs. The contingency of digital mode operators would shrink if they'd sign off. I'd certainly miss them.

I for one am contemplating going digital only on 6 and 2. The way things are going, it's just a matter of time before VHF contests are de facto digital mode contests. I like the digital modes, so I'm good with that, but I'd love it if there was a separate contest for it like on the other side of the pond. In a way digital mode contesting is much more like traditional contesting. No need for silly chat pages and whatever other crutches you need to employ to scare up a station to work. Good old CQ still works with digital modes. 

When I look at the number of Q's I made on the higher bands since perhaps June it's clear to me that it's just plain silly to keep that stuff around, or to invest even more in it. And I've only been active on those bands for maybe a year. HI Maybe I'll just keep it for casual skeds with folks that I regularly talk to, but leave it off during the contest. 

Better include digital and HF in your arsenal for mountain topping, Bill. :)

73,
--Alex KR1ST

On Jan 19, 2021, 12:32 PM, at 12:32 PM, Bill Schaffer <snowman at sem-co.com> wrote:
>Hello all:
>
>I can understand why some are disheartened with all the contest
>activity moving 
>to digital.
>
>But, please consider this...
>
>If you sign off for the last time, the digital users are *not* going to
>miss 
>you.  Not one bit.
>
>Who is going to miss you?  Someone like me, who hiked up a cold, snowy,
>windy 
>mountain-top, and called CQ for an hour and a half.  All for just 10
>contacts.
>
>Was it frustrating?  Absolutely.
>Did I learn something?  Absolutely.
>Will I do it again?  Absolutely.
>
>Bill
>WS3O
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