Just back from the Central States VHF Society
conference and still pumped (but tired - it feels just
like the end of a contest !), so I better a few ideas
out while they're hot.
1. Boring Contests
(I don't mean those sponsored by the Boring ARC !)
I work both VHF and HF contests and must admit that I
often find the CQWWVHF and the UHF contest boring from
my very modest home station due to low QSO rates (love
the UHF Contest as a rover !). The UHF Contest also
falls at an inconvenient date regarding vacations,
etc. (often on a holiday weekend here) and is a bit
close to the 10 GHz&Up event. It occurred to me that
I might be more willing to set a single weekend aside
for these two events if the CQ contest was cut to 24
hours (perhaps 0000-2400 UTC Saturday) and was then
followed immediately by the UHF contest (remains at 24
hour but Sunday UTC). Seems unlikely that ARRL and CQ
would work together on this sort of thing and there
are certainly lots of reasons why not to do it that
way, but it might help activity in both by
concentrating the effort into a single weekend.
2. Local Club Efforts
I think this has got to be an area of big potential.
One approach that ocurred to me would be perhaps to do
an "overlay" contest (primarily on FM) on a local
basis (through the local municipal club(s)), as a
short sprint during one of the regular VHF contests.
A few of similar arrangements have been set up by QRP
groups for HF contests. Perhaps have multipliers
corresponding to different municipalities in a local
area, but require the grid to be exchanged too so it
counts for the ARRL or CQ event. Around here everyone
in this Region (equivalent to a county) is in the same
grid so it would be easy to tell everyone what grid to
send.
Like FD, it could be partially "disguised" as an
emergency excerise so everyone gets to understand the
capability and limitations of their FM gear.
You could have certificates for "silly" entry
categories, such as those offered for the Stew Perry
160m Contest, that could attract some activity from
those not really interested (yet !?) in contests but
who would like a fun challenge.
My Dad, a keen HF CW dxer and contester, recently
operated in a 2m FM contest sponsored by his local
club. It was both his first phone contest and first
VHF contest since being licensed over 50 years ago !
So you never know who might show up.
3. Combined HF/VHF Contests
Here in Ontario we have 3 provincial and national
contests (apart from FD) each year which permit both
HF and VHF operation (Ontario QSO Party (ALL bands 1.8
MHz-250 GHz, except WARC)), RAC Canada Day (160-2m
except WARC) Contest, RAC Winter Contest (160-2m
except WARC) ). Some State QSO parties allow VHF and
others do not. It seems to me that these mixed HF/VHF
contests can provide an opportunity for HF contesters
(both keen and part-time types) to poke around a bit
and see what VHF is like, without devoting many hours
to low QSO rate operation. Can't hurt, it seems to
me. Perhaps those of you in areas where your local
QSO parties do not allow VHF operation could suggest
to the sponsoring organizations that it be added.
73,
Steve, VE3SMA
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