[VHFcontesting] Suggestion for the ARRL June VHF contest

[Sean Waite]

I'm sort of in between contesting, but have slowly started to get stuff
together to start getting back into it.

I'm not sure that this plan would be terribly effective at accomplishing
what you want to accomplish. Yes, we've heavily spinning towards digital
modes, but there are still some multi mode ops out there.

It also impacts the rovers quite a bit, it's a lot of effort for us to get
out there and operate, and doing it over 3 weekends means that you'll
likely have far fewer on the road. Rochester and some other areas have
proven that active rovers really helps drive activity, and if we divide
them up among weekends it won't be a great thing. Even for the non-rovers,
3 full weekends is a ton of work and hard to do. Not every HF op runs every
HF contest. We'd also have more conflicts with the more popular HF
contests, reducing available ops further.

I believe that it's better to encourage operations on multiple modes over
one weekend rather than divide it among multiple. HF contests can be super
busy and we don't have time to work a station multiple times on multiple
modes, but aside from the largest stations VHF ops have plenty of downtime.
Look at something like the  10m contest for a similar feel, a single
weekend and not divided up.


73/Yours in Scouting
Sean Waite, WA1TE


On Wed, Oct 26, 2022, 6:59 PM Mark, K5AM <k5am at zianet.com> wrote:

>
> Suggestion for the ARRL June VHF contest
>
> Recently introduced digital modes have resulted in a
> major change in the way contesters have operated in the
> June VHF contest. A wide spectrum of opinions have been
> expressed on the various e-mail lists. Many operators are
> concerned for the long-term health of VHF contesting. To
> what is considered by some to be a serious problem, there
> is a feasible solution.
>
> On HF (for example, Sweepstakes and DX) ARRL has had
> separate contests for CW, SSB, RTTY, and recently
> Digital. However, VHF has been slighted, like a neglected
> child, with ARRL providing only combined-mode contests.
> This inexplicable situation is easily corrected.
>
> Suggestion for an ARRL June VHF contest series.
> 1. Three separate contests will be held, on the first
> three weekends in June.
> 2. Each of the three contests will be conducted using a
> single mode.
> 3. In 2023, the sequence of modes will be SSB, Digital, CW.
> In subsequent years, the modes will be rotated.
>
> Notes.
> 1. The September and January VHF contests can be
> considered later, after an experimental three contest
> series in June 2023.
> 2. As with any proposed scheme, there are obvious pros
> and cons; the challenge for operators is to balance
> individual circumstances with VHF contesting in general,
> and the long-term picture.
>
> 73,
>
> Mark, K5AM
> https://www.zianet.com/k5am/
>
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