[VHFcontesting] The impact of the digital modes on the January VHF Contest and some suggestions on dealing with those impacts

[Marshall-K5QE]

Hello everyone....Switching to FT4 sounds great, except that the "casual 
contesters" are not there.  They seem to be welded to FT8 and will not 
move.  I have often listened on 50.318 during the contests and I hear 
nothing there.  That forces me back to .313 after a few minutes of lost 
contest time.

In June of 2010, the QE contest station made 1836 contacts on 6M using 
SSB/CW.  Jay-W9RM was a major part of that.  I think that he sat in the 
chair for hours and he is a very good operator. All that, and we came in 
SECOND(!!!) on 6M in terms of contacts made.  Can anyone really imagine 
that happening today?

FT8 is very popular, especially among the casual operators. They are 
making contacts that they know they could not make otherwise.  That is 
why they are addicted to FT8 and will not use anything else.  However, 
the total scores of everyone in the contest has gone DOWN due to the 
fact that FT8 takes so long to make a contact.  Yes, FT4 would cut that 
time in half, but even if everything was perfect, FT4 can make a contact 
in 30 sec.  A really good operator can make 4-5 contacts in the same 
time on SSB.

So to summarize, participation is apparently up and scores are down.  
That seems contradictory, but it also seems to be true.

How can we improve participation AND scores??  I don't know.  I really 
don't like the idea of allowing two different contacts, one on FTx and 
one on SSB/CW, with the same station.  I like the idea of checking for 
SSB on the hour and the half hour.  It is easy to program a button on 
your rig that goes to 50.125MHz. Push the button for a quick check on 
SSB and if nothing is there, go back to FTx.  Announcing an SSB opening 
on the reflectors would help too.

OH WELL, June is approaching and we will get another chance. Hopefully, 
we will get some killer Es and we can make contacts like crazy.

73 Marshall K5QE


On 1/31/2021 6:46 PM, Rhinosix via VHFcontesting wrote:
> For those who have complaints about contests on FT8 switch to FT4, the contest mode, as JT intended it to be.
>   Jerry W2JCN FN21
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Duffey <jamesduffey at comcast.net>
> To: VHF Contesting Reflector <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sat, Jan 30, 2021 9:16 pm
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] The impact of the digital modes on the January VHF Contest and some suggestions on dealing with those impacts
>
> The deadline for submitting logs in the 2021 running of the ARRL January VHF Contest has passed with 1179 logs received. There may be a few more as paper logs are received and entered electronically. To put that number in perspective; that is the most entries in the January contest since 1998, and marks four years of progressively increasing entries. So the contest is healthy. Let me repeat that, judged by entries, the contest is healthy.
>
> What is behind the increase in activity? Well, pretty much all ham radio contests have seen a increase in activity in these times of Covid-19. So that accounts for part of it. The use of the WSJT-X digital modes, including, but not limited to FT8, are probably the basis of much of the activity. And yet, after years of being concerned about declining or stagnant VHF contest activity people are apparently unhappy about the increase in entries. One sees a lot of “What about …?”. Most of this discontent is laid at the foot of the use of FT8 by casual contesters. I think it important at this juncture to complain, if one is going to complain, and make a distinction between the use of FT8 and the FT8 mode itself. I see a lot of posts blaming FT8 for all the woes in VHF contesting, when it is actually the operators who misuse FT8 who are to blame.
>
> For the rest of this note, let me refer to digital modes in general, or I guess to be more specific WSJT-X modes. That currently is pretty much the only source of digital modes that are used. That may change, so I think the we should not be specific by using FT8 as the example.
>
> What are the problems, perceived and otherwise, that the use of the digital modes brings about?
>
> 1. Decline in activity on the analog modes SSB and CW.
>
> 2. Decline in activity in the bands above 144 MHz.
>
> 3. Crowding of too much activity in the narrow band allocated to FT8.
>
> There are some benefits of using the digital modes:
>
> 1. The increase in activity is obvious.
>
> 2. The increase in the number of grids that can be worked by even a modest station is increased. So, mults go up. Not everyone takes advantage of this.
>
> 3. Meteor scatter activity has increased, particularly in the dead periods that seem to be more prevalent in January.
>
> 4. WSJT-X generates a Cabrillo log without any additional work from the operator. As generating and submitting a Cabrillo log can be daunting to the newcomer, particularly the interaction with the passive-aggressive robot, this is a big advantage, and I think one reason why the guys who operate WSJT-X have a high rate of log submittals.
>
> So, what we would like to do is address the concerns specific to the use of WSJT-X and keep the advantages. We would also like to keep the strictly analog operators interested in and actively operating in the contest.
>
> I will separate this into two different categories, those things that we as operators can do to help, and those things that the contest sponsors need to do.
>
> Things that we can do:
>
> 1. Set aside specific times to go to the analog calling frequencies to make analog QSOs. Say, go to SSB every hour on the hour and CW every hour on the half hour. Stay for five minutes or until everyone has been worked out. This will get some of us off the digital frequencies and on to analog operations, so when others go to look there will be analog operation there.
>
> 2. Get on FT4 and encourage other digital users to do the same. The quicker exchanges on FT4 means more QSOs in the same time without much deterioration in signal-to-noise ratio.
>
> 3. Educate the digital mode users to the advantage of using the analog modes and FT4. One way to do this is to volunteer to give a talk at your local club, say at the end of April or the beginning of May on vhf operating in general and working sporadic E as that is the beginning of the Es season. In the talk, discuss beneficial digital mode operation.
>
> 4. Use the optional TX messages in the FT modes to ask for a QSY to the higher bands. Program QSY 144.174 or the appropriate UHF frequency in the optional messages. This will work.
>
> 5. Don’t badmouth FT8 or the FT8 users. They are on, you can work them, and you will get points or mults from them.
>
> Suggested rule changes:
>
> 1. Allow two QSOs, one analog (CW, SSB, FM, AM) and one digital per band, as long as they are on separate and appropriate frequencies. That is, one cannot work a station on SSB on 50.125 and then immediately switch to FT4 on the same frequency. One would have to QSY to 50.318 to work the FT4 QSO. Perhaps,to boost analog activity, the analog modes could count two points to the digital’s one. the analog modes could count two points to the digital’s one. This is much the same way the 10M contest and Field Day is run, so there is precedent that this approach works.
>
> 2. Create an analog category, a digital category, and a mixed mode category. One could chose one of the three to enter.
>
> 3. On the higher bands provide equivalent points for digital and analog modes. This would encourage the digital ops to QSY for higher point QSOs, and also encourage the use of the digital modes on the higher frequencies.
>
> Some have advocated separate contests for the digital and analog modes, but I think that would reduce overall activity. And, by having separate analog and digital categories, that would sort of fill the function of separate contests by having a contest within a contest.
>
> It doesn’t do much good to talk about this on the reflector without also putting in some action. Write your ARRL Division Director and tell him how you think the VHF contests should be changed. Send a copy to your SCM, Contest Advisory Committee member, and a member of the Program Services Committee. Step up VHF/UHF contesting PR efforts.
>
> These are my opinions. Others may have equally good opinions and they should be heard. I hate to see the complaints about the digital modes after each contest with no commensurate action to address them. The digital modes are a boon to VHF/UHF contesting and we should figure out how best to leverage them to our advantage. - Duffey KK6MC
>
>
>
> KK6MC
> James Duffey
> Cedar Crest NM
> jamesduffey at comcast.net
>