Not to pick on Jim and John, but here are my personal responses to what are
not uncommon questions and issues...
> Aren't there are other groups out there that could support our VHF
contesting efforts? Why not try and solicit them?
Yes, but I've got an even better idea. Why don't YOU support VHF contesting
efforts by starting one, publicizing it, collecting scores, checking the
logs, and publishing the results? I'm sure your contest club could do it.
Mine does the WA QSO Party, for example, and sponsors plaques in others.
You know what? I, personally, will see to it that your contest is
publicized in both QST's Contest Corral, distributed to 165,000 members
every month, and the ARRL Contester's Rate Sheet, distributed to 11337
subscribers every two weeks as part of their ARRL membership. And then I
will publicize the fact that the results are available on your personal Web
site. Hats off to the various clubs and organizations that do sponsor their
own contests - I will do everything I can to get the word out and encourage
people to participate. If you have a better idea for a contest, put it on
and we'll let you know if it works.
> The line scores on the Web are crap...
You can go to the Web site and download the line scores in EXACTLY the same
format in which they have always been printed. Here, click on this and see
for yourself: http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/2003/SeptVHF.pdf. Go
on, I'll wait...
See? These are available to everyone, not just League members.
Now, in ADDITION to those crappy line scores that are just like they always
were in the Golden Days of Yore, ARRL members can download the entire set of
scores or you can display them sorted in any number of useful ways. What
more is required, exactly? Oh, yes...
> ...get our line scores back into QST.
The way to get line scores back into QST is to recruit more members. We
have about 700k US hams and about 165k ARRL members. There is lots and lots
of room for getting those members to sign up. The decision to remove line
scores was driven by the budget, NOT by anti-contesting sentiment.
Contesting has a disproportionate number of QST pages based on the number of
contesters vs. the number of members. This excess representation is
preserved because the ARRL recognizes the value of contesting and contesters
to the vitality of the Amateur Service. Did you see the results of the ARRL
poll about what members wanted to see more and less of in QST? It wasn't
more contest coverage that was desired - exactly the opposite. This is a
dollars-and-cents issue, not a sinister, under-handed move to do away with
what is recognized by the ARRL as a valuable part of the Amateur Service.
My personal opinion is that line scores do not belong in a printed magazine.
They are dead, static text wedged in between the Silent Key notices and the
ads. Yes, it's nice to see my call in 6-point type, but I can see the same
exact thing in ten different ways on the Web. NEWS FLASH - most of our
potential recruits don't know about the Good Old Days and are not dependent
on seeing their calls in QST. They consider publication on the Web just as
valid as print media. They also consider the months of time lag a quaint
and curious anachronism that dulls their interest in competing. "It takes
HOW LONG?"
> they are ELECTED OFFICIALS aren't they? And as elected officials they are
supposed to do as we recommend.
They are elected officials, not postal clerks. As officials of the
organization, their primary mission is to insure the health of the Amateur
Service, not oil every squeaky wheel in Radio Land. If you put together a
coherent, well-thought-out and considerate proposal, I can guarantee you
that it will get read and considered, even it isn't adopted 100%. A good
opposing viewpoint is also valuable in shaping policy. As a contester, you
should be darned happy that the elected officials DON'T try to oil every
squeaky wheel, because contesters would be out of business purty darn quick
based on the volume of complaints from non-contesters.
> I am not sure that calling them or writing letter will do much good. It
hasn't seemed to before.
Before any of the rule change proposals were even formulated, a survey was
sent out to literally hundreds of active and not-so-active VHF contesters.
Nearly three hundred responses were received, the results tabulated, and the
issues discussed. Then, after discussion, a set of POSSIBLE changes were
put forth for public comment. Some of them were well-received and other
were not. The committee went back to work and has incorporated a great deal
of the community's input. There was a HUGE amount of public input into the
process, probably more than had ever been solicited for rule changes.
I'm really sorry if that effort or the hundreds of man-hours expended on
this issue thus far aren't considered good enough. The whole point was to
find out how to INCREASE participation and interest so that (a) more hams
would take part in a stimulating and enjoyable activity and (b) the existing
contesters would have more folks to work.
If the plan was to kill off VHF contesting, it wouldn't have taken nearly
this much effort :-)
73, Ward N0AX
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