When this subject first came up when the league changed their schedule
the contest manager for ARRL said that the fact the NFL season has
changed would never determine what weekend the Jan contest would
occur... Even though they originally chose that date to be on the
weekend between the playoffs and THE GAME!
Far be it for the League to do something that makes sense for the VHF
community... If it was the ARRL DX contest that was affected by over 1/2
its participants not seriously entering because of some other major
event, they would shift the date a week one way or another.
Why doesn't the League ever show common sense on something like this?
73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09nm... sk
-----------------------------------------------
On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 6:02 AM, Paul Kiesel wrote:
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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