On 2/26/07, Lee Kemp <n5tiflk@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Nate and Bob said something in there emails that has me greatly concerned.
> With code gone as an requirement for upgrades many Techs and others will be
> moving up. I have seen on a 6m reflector of guys saying they will sell there
> gear to move up to HF.
>
> This is the time that we must promote vhf/uhf to try to keep these guys
> from leaving our weak single bands. Yes many will get a multi mode rig but I
> fear that the lure of HF will decrease the numbers that we have today. I am
> hoping that with the rules committee that is now in progress makes the right
> changes that will keep these guys here on vhf/uhf. But at the same time
> Enjoy HF.
Interesting point Lee.
The new hams around here have the "frequency du jour"... last year it
was on 6m... when they all put up 6m antennas... this year it was
144.220 area... when they all built mobile horizontal loops... right
at the moment, it's 10 meters while they play with their new privs...
But... all their VHF/UHF antennas are still up... so I have no worries
that they'll be around in VHF/UHF for a long time...
The contests are a challenge for many, and they'll keep participating.
But I've been trying to think up other activities that would be
interesting (like trying out some wild antennas -- the stacked yagi
array or the sterba would be good canidates...) and getting some folks
over to help put it together... mostly you just have to keep people
interested...
The harder one to get folks to do is expand their VHF+ bands... 220,
900, 1.2... etc... the expense triples or quadruples the radio costs
to add these bands for most folks... and they start to shy away from
VHF+ contesting because they simply can't compete with the all band
fixed and rover operators who've spent their (piles of) money adding
bands.
Without help from other people in the W0KVA team, I simply wouldn't
have had all the bands that I did last June. One of the radios was a
borrowed FT-736R.
I hope to slowly "buy all my own stuff" for the rover, and then those
radios are freed-up to loan out to another rover... and so it goes...
I'm not capable or interested in going it alone, yet... someday maybe.
Call me a "captive rover" if you like. (I'm obviously not...) But
I'll be working W0KVA as a priority (at least making sure I get them
in every place I stop) because half the radios in my vehicle are
loaned from friends in our little group! They deserve those contacts.
And I'd never have gone rover (it would have cost about $4000K to put
together that rover from scratch if I had to build/buy it all myself)
if it weren't for their zeal and help.
And if I've got any "extra radios" lying around on contest weekend and
someone needs one... it's theirs... heck, if a 902 MHz FM rig will get
them on 902... great. Here ya go. If they don't have 220, but are
willing to duke it out with a good antenna and a 220 MHz FM HT
borrowed from me... here it is! Bring her back in one piece!
For me, with the way June is structured... it's all about cramming as
many radios on as many bands as I can possibly fit into the Jeep and
heading out for a weekend's operating fun. If someone else is
crazy/stupid enough to also want to go along to the hinterlands of
DM88... awesome... here's any other radios and some antennas I can
muster up for ya...
I hear the KR0VER guys are working with W0EEA to get a better setup
for next year... they're going to give me a run for my money! Stay
tuned (no pun intended) for Rover wackiness from Colorado for many
years to come! I think this year my dad and I will be in his
Suburban... now if we can just turn it around on the small dirt
roads...
Nate WY0X
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