If we could get ARRL to change the date, I would vote for the 1st weekend. I
think there is less than a zero-point-one percent chance of that occurring,
though. I think they won't change the hours, either.
I hate to say it, but it looks like this is going to boil down to whether a
person wants to contest in a VHF contest in January, period - as opposed to
whether the football games are a stronger draw for attention. I think there
might be different levels of interest in the various areas of the country. In
the Pacific Northwest, we had a fairly decent turnout for the January contest.
Guys who participate in the contest will watch a football game and then come
back on the air if they want to watch the game. Out here, I don't believe the
football games affect participation in the VHF contest that much - and I
suspect the same may be true in other areas of the country.
Paul, K7CW
________________________________
From: Marshall-K5QE <k5qe@k5qe.com>
To:
Cc: vhfcontesting@contesting.com
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 8:08 PM
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Yes -- Please Move the January Contest
Hello Tom and everyone else interested in this topic.....
After reading all the posts on this topic and some private posts to me, the
following two topics seem to be the most discussed. Most of the posts seem to
be circling around these two objectives:
1)Make every effort to insure that there is 6M Es during the Jan contest and
2)Engineer the contest so that the various football games don't interfere.
How to accomplish these two objectives is the question. As Tom has pointed
out, there is an HF contest every weekend. However, IF we moved the Jan VHF
contest to the FIRST weekend in January, the contest would fall in the Winter
Es season. The chance of good Es in the Jan contest would be a great contest
incentive....more contacts, more grids. What a deal!! We then would be
opposite the ARRL RTTY contest. I don't know how big that contest really is
AND I don't know how many VHF ops would be torn between the VHF contest and the
RTTY contest(I do know one).
It seems to me that the RTTY contest is less competition than NAQP or the CQ
160M contest. I know that there are several VHF ops that are quite nutty about
160M. So, the RTTY contest looks to me like the "lesser of evils".
Someone will point out that there are football games on the first weekend in
Jan. Assuming that is correct, is there any way to engineer the contest to
avoid the football games completely? Frankly, I don't know. After trying to
understand the NFL's scheduling my head is spinning and pounding at the same
time. It appears that the first weekend in Jan is when the wild card games are
played....one on Sat and one on Sun. So, this is doubly bad....two football
games to try to avoid. However, the significance of these games is much less
than the later games, so maybe we would not see a huge effect from them.
Still, two games are twice as obnoxious as one game.
I have been convinced that my previous idea of a longer contest with breaks,
but on the same weekend, is not overly bright. I must have been smoking the
"funny weed" when I came up with that particular idea. I was trying to find a
way to keep the football game from hurting us. Hopefully, some better idea(s)
will surface.
Herb has told us that the ARRL will not listen to anything we have to say. If
I understand his points, they are A)that the VHF contest has been held on the
third weekend for decades and therefore cannot be moved and B)we are not HFers
so we don't have the numbers and hence the Grand Poobahs in Newington are not
interested in us. Unfortunately, he is most probably correct. The ARRL is not
noted for careful coordination with its stakeholders.
IF we are stuck with the third weekend date, then is there any way to avoid the
football game?? When does this football game begin?? Not the pre-game
blather, but the real game?? Let us assume that it starts at 7PM EST(0000Z on
Monday). We could start the contest at 9AM EST(=1400Z) and end it at 6PM on
Sunday(=2300Z). If I did my times right(which I often don't), then that would
be the same 33 hours of contesting time. The rovers would not have to be out
two nights....actually it would be good for the rovers to be able to get in
earlier on Sunday--especially in the January weather. This idea does not
change the date of the contest, it just changes the start and stop times to
avoid the football game.
Does any of this work?? Your ideas are most appreciated.....by me and by the
others interested in this topic.
73 Marshall K5QE
On 1/28/2013 6:18 PM, Tom Haavisto wrote:
> I am a relative newbie to VHF contesting, so no problem moving it as far as I
> am concerned.
>
> HOWEVER - take a look at the contest calender.
>
> First weekend - ARRL RTTY Roundup
> Second weekend - ARRL NAQP CW
> Third weekend - ARRL NAQP SSB
> Fourth weekend - CQ 160 CW
>
> Keeping in it January means sharing with a major contest. Making it the
> fourth weekend means sharing with the CQ 160 contest, and I think the hard
> core contesters have already shown where their loyalties lie.
>
> I don't follow professional sports - I prefer RADIO sport :-)
>
> Tom - VE3CX
>
>
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