Recruiting new participants to VHF contesting can be a boon to everyone's
score. But where can you find a crop of potential contesters? Many newer
hams today are often restricted by license and radio to 2-meter FM. Many
efforts have been made in the past to introduce contesting to 2-meter FM
repeater-types only to be foiled by failure in most cases.
But this is a different day. Many of today's newer hams are truly
interested in emergency communications through ARES, RACES, Skywarn, etc.
In emergency situations, repeaters may be down, necessitating simplex
operation. My state of Rhode Island has an effective 2-meter simplex plan
in effect for just such a situation. Determining simplex coverage for a
local area can be very useful information. And, contest experienced
operators make better emergency communicators.
Encouraging 2-meter FM simplex contesting is the goal of the Ocean State
2-Meter FM Simplex Challenge - a chance to learn the basics of contest
operating in a low pressure friendly manner. It runs concurrent with the
CQWW VHF Contest, July 18 - 19, with "focus hours" to concentrate activity.
This was initially reported by N1HRA in February CQ with the 2008 contest
results. Details of the 2009 Challenge can be found on www.wa1rr.org
<http://www.wa1rr.org/> . It is not an original idea. Milwaukee and the
Twin Cities have run similar events. KC9BQA has a wonderful website in
which he promotes this concept. See www.kc9bqa.com <http://www.kc9bqa.com/>
.
It's not too late for your club to sponsor such a recruitment
event.concurrent with the CQWW or some other time. Please feel free to
borrow any ideas from the Ocean State contest. You'll not only help make
more Qs for everyone, you'll have the satisfaction of having Elmer'd someone
to be a more proficient operator.
John Lindholm, W1XX
CQWW VHF Contest Director
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