Folks, I'm actually with Dave on this one. In my station, all preamps 2-432 are located in the shack, with feeder losses < 1dB on each. Until I'm ready for EME, where I WILL be putting it on the towe
Bill, Some clarification would be nice, on your statement "Neither myself or others who keep it simple can compete with all of you who use additional high tech devices". What are you talking about, h
I don't understand this. WHAT is so different here? I hear someone CQing on 144.200 (national calling frequency), with "CQ contest, K2AXX FN12". Gee, I know his grid square. I know where to point. If
I can see where this message is taking us: Let's petition the ARRL to eliminate all VHF+ contest events, since they are a quagmire of poor practices. Yep. Sign me up. Mark, K2AXX questions or I have
George, 1) VHF Contests are merely an adjunct activity to the daily experience. I don't fire up my station just to keep in "tune for the contest season". I actively work on improving the NF of my pre
You are exactly right, Tree. But - I don't believe the issue is GLOBAL. Nor is it as rampant as some would wish to paint it. I think You, George and I all are in TOTAL agreement that JERKS that work
After a fashion, almost ALL rovers (save the rolling hamshack types) borrow gear from some group or another. That part of the comparison is too broad, which can be interpreted incorrectly. I think I
Folks, I've got to chime in on this one. I'm coming from the perspective of someone who's built an 11-band station from the ground up, and is actively involved in Microwave contesting, in addition to
Cabrillo, like .TXT, is just a format. And it's a pretty good format. Part of the problem is that it does NOT include such things as a pretty band-by-band summary, nor an easy indication of dupes, et
Folks, I need to correct myself. The following statement is NOT correct, and I apologize for stating it without checking my facts first. The results are available to ARRL members about a month prior
Perhaps I'm missing something. Could someone explain to me just HOW restricting a contest to 4 Bands could POSSIBLY help participation? I have to think, that by limiting June to ABCD, the following m
Agreed. Adding classes to a contest does a few beneficial things (in my opinion): 1) Gives rise to new levels of competition. After all, what's a contest all about? The more people that get fired up
I suppose a distance scoring element is worth considering, BUT: If we're trying to encourage folks to play, then that's yet another discouraging factor. This stacks the decks in favor of the "big gun
Wasn't the original focus, of this entire thread - the assertion that participation is dropping, based on reduced numbers of logs submitted? If participation = logs submitted, then we're dropping. If
I agree, Tree. The problem, unique to VHF+, is Rovers. I work +/- 200 Rover QSOs, with perhaps 6 callsigns. Lots of QSOs, not a lot of unique stations. Using both metrics, unique calls AND number of
I agree. TMI. Increasing activity, though - instead of focusing on how broke VHF+ contests are - can we all shift gears to how can we promote activity? Like, a list of things each of us can try to do
FOLKS! We're going the wrong direction with this! ARRL-Bashing isn't going to fix a damn thing! If you care, DO something about it. Don't just keep writing about how the ARRL is secretly trying to pu
Uh, Is this the VHF Contesting reflector? Sounds more like "THE ARRL SUCKS, AND HERE'S WHY" list. NOBODY, I mean NOBODY was happy that scores were pulled out of the mag. It WAS the wrong move, in our
A couple comments, along with original text below: What groups do you know of that "sponsors" rovers? Of all the rovers I know, each and every one of them not only owns their own gear, but does it fo
Ken, The problem with all contests (HF, VHF, etc) is simple: Location. There's always someone in a better location than you. 1) HF contesters in New England have a 45 minute - 1 hour advantage into E