[VHFcontesting] VHF contesting yesterday vs today

[Alan Larson]

> I made one QSO in the past contest, a CW contact with FM19 from here in
EL87.

I made zero contacts.  Poor antennas, poor  location.  Heard a few distant
voices on 2 meters, but they never heard me.

> Rather than trying to run separate contests for digital and analog, how
about combining both modes by allowing same band QSOs for both digital and
analog? Those serious enough would make it a point to pick up QSOs on both
modes.

You assume that anyone serious is playing with computers to do digital
signal processing of the signals and let the computers make the contacts.
The problem is that that activity is sucking the life out of analog
contacts, as well as higher band contacts.   Allowing same band Qs for digi
and analog would just give the digi folks the ability to work local
stations twice for higher scores.

> My other question, as one who does not do digital (at least yet), is why
not bounce back and forth between the two modes? Does it really take much
more than one button push on most radios to switch from VFO A on digital to
VFO B on analog? Some activity, especially by the high profile serious
stations, would help alert the rest of us that there actually is somebody
to talk to on these normally dead bands.

Some will point out that the frequencies are far enough apart that they
need different antennas.  I will point out that pushing a button to switch
to a different frequency doesn't make a PC and all the interconnecting
hardware appear.  This is especially true when all your equipment is piled
in the front half of a VW Jetta.  (The antennas rode in back.)

Realistically, it is time to dump digi contacts from the contests, and
start new contests for them that are well suited to them.

        Alan