>NEVER? Not at all true. For the HF contests where mutlipliers count by
>band, it is very common to move people from one band to another. This is
>done a lot by DX stations in the CQ WW contest and by domestic stations
>in the NAQP contests.
I stand corrected. I have never operated HF DX contests and incorrectly
assumed that propagation would prohibit doing ...say, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10,
whereas we often go 6M, 2M, 222,432,1296,2304 ad infinitum...
I have a little more problem with the idea that HF and VHF contests are
essentially the same. Sure there are "weak signals" on a dead band on HF,
but there is SO MUCH more activity I would guess there are MANY times where
learning to copy through QRM is one of the major skills. Also the
propagation modes are very different and antennas are so much more directive
on VHF and above - I'm not just talking about 6 and 2M here but the UHF and
microwave bands as well which are my favorite bands in a "VHF" contest. I
think you don't hear many hams say, "I just spent x amount of dollars for a
new 3456Mc setup and made ONE QSO - that's X (big number) dollars per qso..
hah!! Lots of time "weak signal" means NO signal...
But we digress I think. I think it's keeping the activity up that's the most
important thing. Log submissions are going down each year. Rovers gave VHF
contests a shot in the arm, but basically things are slowing down. If making
skeds helps keep interest up and activity up and is done within the
framework of the rules, I still don't see a problem with it. I operate each
June and September at the K1WHS unlimited multiop in southern Maine. We have
ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE of ever catching W2SZ/1 who is in the same category and
in a better geographical location and lots higher. So, we really only are
competing with ourselves each year. That being said, we don't really care if
our competition makes skeds.. What the heck, we just want to squeeze the
best we can out of the station and have some fun..
bill, K1DY
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