I had waited to respond to Steve and Gene's emails about the CQWW VHF contest
until the contest was over because it had been some time since I operated
this contest.
I liked the slightly different format of the contest especially not having
to get my entire
7 band (50-2304MHz) station ready to go for another contest so soon after
June (repairs
from June are still being done).
I still wish that Gene had taken his old distance scoring scheme idea
(which was highly debated
on these reflectors a couple of years ago) and used it for scoring this
contest which would
really have changed the flavor of the contest and made it an even less "me
too" contest.
I found that activity was less than I expected, even in my part-time
operating of the
contest. Some 6m e-skip really was fun on Saturday afternoon but the
amount of 2m activity
seemed very low. I applaud Gene and CQ for providing this contest and hope
that it's popularity
increases.
73,
Ed K3DNE
FM19
50MHz: 108 QSO's (108 qso points) x 49 Grids
144MHz: 59 QSO's (118 qso points) x 20 Grids
Total: 167 QSO's (226 qso points) x 69 Grids = 15,732 points.
At 07:25 PM 7/12/02 -0400, Eugene Zimmerman wrote:
>Steve
>
>I seriously considered making the CQWW VHF contest an all band affair when I
>began to run it in the year 2000 I was pursuaded otherwise for a number of
>reasons, mainly burnout and the desire to have a contest with a slightly
>different format.
>
>To be successful all band VHF contests depend greatly on some combination of
>the participation of mountaintop portables both single and multiop,
>multiband rovers and/or a serious club competition. Why mountaintop?
>Because on the higher bands especially the microwaves there is no substitute
>for height. Multiband portable operations whether fixed or roving are an
>immense amount of work. We already have the June ARRL VHF contest a month
>before the CQ WW and the September ARRL VHF contest 6 weeks later. Two
>weeks after the CQWW we have the UHF contest in which the top score is
>usually several hundred contacts. Three weeks before the CQWW we have the
>US Field Day which can be another big effort for some of us and two weeks
>before we have the European Field Day which often IS a big effort. With all
>of this activity, I was convinced that no one was interested in the amount
>of work needed to do a DC to daylight contest.
>
>I was interested in a contest that would take advantage of the propagation
>and not require a major expenditure of extra effort beyond about a day of
>operating time (a significant multiop means taking time off from work) on a
>weekend. I also wanted the contest to deemphasize the importance of
>location. Six and two meters do that to a great extent - especially six.
>In terms of U.S. rovers, most already have 6 and 2 in their vehicles. So it
>would be little extra effort to rove compared with a 10 band effort in June
>or September. They could check out some new rover sites and operate under
>the old original rover rules.
>
>You may ask why even include two meters. This is an international contest.
>Even though I usually get only less than a dozen logs from Thailand, I
>understand that this contest is the VHF operating highlight of the year in
>HS. The top HS scores are several hundred contacts -ALL ON 2 METER FM. So
>there is as much activity in HS as there is in all of the ARRL VHF contests.
>I feel an obligation to continue to include two meters both for them and the
>handful of Europeans who turn in nice 2 meter scores even though there is
>very little CONTEST activity. With the change of dates one week later I
>hope that there will be more activity from Europe.
>
>The bottom line is that the CQ WW VHF contest is not a me too contest. It's
>emphasis on 6 and 2 meters is in direct contrast with the ARRL contests
>which emphasize the microwaves to such an extent that 6 and 2 meters become
>irrelevant except as a means to pass stations up the bands unless there is a
>huge Es opening.
>
>73 Gene W3ZZ
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Steven Kerns" <n3fti@yahoo.com>
>To: "Eugene Zimmerman" <ezimmerm@erols.com>; "VHF Contesting Reflector"
><vhfcontesting@contesting.com>; "Blacksheep Reflector"
><vhf-dx-discuss@blacksheep.org>; "Stanford Reflector"
><vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu>
>Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 4:07 PM
>Subject: [VHFcontesting] Re: 2002 CQ WW VHF Contest
>
>
> > Has there been any thought to making this an all band
> > contest in the future? It sure would make the contest
> > a lot more interesting with more bands. I (and maybe
> > others) would operate this contest more seriously if
> > more bands were involved.
> >
> > Just a thought, what does the list think?
> >
> > Steve Kerns, N3FTI
> > 50MHz - 10GHz FN20aj
> >
> > --- Eugene Zimmerman <ezimmerm@erols.com> wrote:
> > > This is a reminder that the CQ WW VHF Contest will
> > > be held NEXT weekend
> > > beginning Saturday July 20 at 1800Z ending Sunday
> > > July 21 at 2100Z. This is
> > > a 6 and 2 meter contest only. Rules and log
> > > submission information are at
> > >
> > > http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/VHFRUl02.pdf
> > >
> > > Cabrillo does NOT support this contest. For
> > > electronic logging, use the
> > > ARRL VHF contest and change the two meter contacts
> > > to two points in the
> > > summary sheet. If you submit by internet I need
> > > your log [CT .all file or
> > > equivalent] and a separate summary sheet [CT .sum
> > > file or equivalent].
> > > These can be sent as a single file if you wish. Do
> > > not send the Cabrillo
> > > file WITHOUT a separate summary sheet. I am unable
> > > to extract the summary
> > > information from the Cabrillo log. But the Cabrillo
> > > file will be o.k. for
> > > your log.
> > >
> > > This contest has now been moved one week later to
> > > avoid the HF IARU contest
> > > and the WRTC, and to put it one week further away
> > > from the European Field
> > > Day. This is an international contest. All are
> > > welcome.
> > >
> > > Hope to see you there. With some E skip.
> > >
> > > 73 Gene W3ZZ
> > > Director, CQWW VHF Contest
> > > FM19jd MD
> > > 50 => 10 GHz
> > > Grid Pirates Contest Group K8GP
> > > Member, CQWW Contest Advisory Group
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------
> > > Submissions:
> > > vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu
> > > Subscription/removal requests:
> > > vhf-request@w6yx.stanford.edu
> > > Human list administrator:
> > vhf-approval@w6yx.stanford.edu
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free
> > http://sbc.yahoo.com
> >
> >
> >
>
>------
>Submissions: vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu
>Subscription/removal requests: vhf-request@w6yx.stanford.edu
>Human list administrator: vhf-approval@w6yx.stanford.edu
|