Tom,
Thanks for this- my belief is that quite a majority of serious contesters
agree.
And with regard to some of the suggestions about changing the rules for
finding contacts, I feel this way:
The stated objective of the contest is indeed to work as many stations in as
many grids as possible (within the rules), just like any sport. The
objective of basketball is to make as many baskets as possible, within the
rules of the game. The event is after all organized sport, a competition,
it's game time. The rules of the game are defined. If someone would rather
line up and take turns shooting foul shots, fine, but that's not the game of
basketball.
I am not defending the present rules or against rules changes, but if a game
changes into something much less challenging or one that I would not like to
play, I won't. In the meantime I work hard to max my score in today's game,
and enjoy doing so. Read, and more importantly, understand the rules, and
get clever on how to max your effort. There is misunderstanding about what
is allowed and not. What do others do? What and how can you improve from
past contests? What did winning stations do? Compare notes with your
friendly competitor.
Contests are often slow the second day because you've worked a lot of those
active already. Is it the football games slowing the rate down? Here is my
data by hour and qso's. Where exactly is the dip from the game?
HR Q's
19 36
20 17
21 22
22 18
23 23
00 6
01 17
02 20 E's
03 14
zzzzz
12 3
13 12
14 17
15 12
16 14
17 6
18 9
19 6
20 16 4 band rovers
21 5
22 3
23 11 E's
00 3
01 1
02 9
03 1
Chet, N8RA
-----Original Message-----
From: VHFcontesting [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf
Of Tom Holmes
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 10:05 PM
To: 'Kutzko, Sean, KX9X'; vhfcontesting@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] The January Contest
Sean...
Thanks for doing your homework and bringing some reason to this nonsensical
discussion. And you make a good point that many contesters are just as
active in the 160 test as the VHF tests. They enjoy the competition
regardless of where they find it. And those are often the guys who do well
on any band because they put the effort into being as competitive as they
can with the resources they have.
I have a hard time with the concept that a 4 hour interruption to a 33 hour
contest is a make or break situation. And frankly, even in June and
September I can cite pro sports events that might have interfered on Sunday
afternoon. Or even college games on Saturdays. So we use the time to work on
the station or fix things. While I would not object to some of the proposed
time changes, such as starting on Friday night, I have to recognize that
such a schedule would be a hardship on some, just as the 11 PM EST end time
on Sunday is tough on those who have to go to work on Monday morning.
The situation is what it is and I could probably name a half dozen other
excuses for why our team has never won in the LM class. But in truth, I know
what most of our limitations are and none of them can be laid at the feet of
influences over which we have no control. Well, except for propagation. And
maybe power line noise. But I can't change the rules or the schedule to fix
those to my advantage over the competition. If someone out-scores us, it is
because they did it better than we did, so we need to improve our game.
Let's try to be grownups about this. We all are blessed with specific
disadvantages AND advantages to our contest operations due to equipment,
location, geography, manpower, operating skills, whatever. The challenge is
to overcome those that are obstacles with intelligence and finesse, using
the advantages of the resources at hand.
Do any of you really think that whining for a rules or schedule change will
have much effect on who wins? The top stations are there because they put
the effort into doing it better than their competition. And they also have
learned to accept that much of the outcome is unpredictable regardless of
any factors except hard and smart work. As the Marines say: "Adapt and
Overcome."
Considering that none of us is playing contest for pay or a multi-zillion
buck endorsement deal, doesn't it seem a little silly to be making this much
fuss about a fun and interesting aspect of ham radio.
As for those who want to criticize the ARRL, apparently for the sin of
simply being there, I can tell you that in my 40 years of hamming and ARRL
membership there has been more attention paid to VHF contests and weak
signal operating in the last 15 years than I saw before that time. I don't
necessarily agree with every action they have taken over the years but I
also understand that we don't live in a VHF vacuum where we can simply get
our way without taking into account the fact that we have to play nice with
not only other hams but also with the rest of the population. ARRL creates
advisory groups to help them sort out these matters. Maybe you agree with
their recommendations; maybe not. But if you didn't take time to participate
(most of those groups start out by asking for interested folks to volunteer)
than I don't have much interest in listening to your griping about the
outcome.
End of rant. Almost.
I'm going back to work on improving my contest team's operations and
station. If the group collectively feels a need to change the schedule, my
team will adapt and overcome.
Tom Holmes, N8ZM
Tipp City, OH
EM79
> -----Original Message-----
> From: VHFcontesting [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf
> Of Kutzko, Sean, KX9X
> Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 5:59 PM
> To: vhfcontesting@contesting.com
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] The January Contest
>
> Hi folks-
>
> I see its time for the annual lively discussion about the January VHF
Contest.
>
> I'm a baseball guy; I don't care about football. So I went to NFL.com
> to
review the
> post-season schedule for 2012:
>
> NFL Schedule:
>
> First weekend in January: Wild Card Weekend; 2 big games on Saturday,
> 2
big
> games on Sunday.
> Second weekend in January: Divisional Playoffs: 2 big games on
> Saturday, 2
big
> games on Sunday.
> Third weekend in January: Conference Championships: 2 big games on Sunday.
> Fourth Weekend in January: Pro-Bowl (exhibition game, not a big deal
> to
most
> people)
>
> It seems to me that, with the exception of the fourth weekend, there
> are
big
> games throughout January. If football is the argument for moving the
weekend, it's
> going to be tough finding a weekend that doesn't have a big game.
>
> So now let's look at contest conflicts:
>
> First weekend in January: RTTY Roundup.
> Second weekend: NAQP CW (12-hour HF)
> Third weekend: NAQP SSB (12-hour HF)
> Fourth weekend: CQ 160M CW.
>
> From an administrative standpoint, I'm not thrilled about having two
> ARRL
flagship
> events on the same weekend. Having RTTY Roundup and January VHF on the
> same weekend would create friction with folks who want to operate both
events.
> In all fairness, that could be said of any weekend where there is more
than one
> contest.
>
> The NAQP's are not organized or run by ARRL. I have nothing to do with
them at
> all. The "right hand not knowing what he left hand is doing" doesn't
> apply
here.
> NAQP's are administered separately from ARRL events, by a completely
different
> group of people. They're not even in the same building as me.
>
> That leaves the fourth weekend, which is CQ 160M. There are a lot of
operators
> that like 160 and VHF+ and want to do both events. I've heard from
> several
of
> them within the last year. I've also been told that the last time the
January VHF
> Contest was on the same weekend at CQ 160, the volume of hate mail
> from
the
> crossover operators was considerable. It's also one week further from
> the
winter
> solstice.
>
> Based on all this info, having the January VHF Contest run on one of
> the weekends of NAQP is the most preferable, in my opinion.
>
> - The other contest those weekends is a 12-hour affair
> - Ops that want to compete in both ARRL January and CQ 160 CW are able
> to
do
> so.
> - No conflicts with other ARRL events.
>
> If there's a game on when I'm doing a contest, I turn the volume down
> and
keep
> tabs on it while I'm contesting.
>
> However, I don't get to vote on this matter.
>
> If you feel the January VHF contest needs to change weekends, tell
> your
Director.
> They make the votes that change the contest rules. I'll circle
> whichever
weekend
> on the calendar they tell me to.
>
> 73,
>
> Sean Kutzko KX9X
> Contest Branch Manager
> ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio
> 225 Main Street
> Newington, CT 06111 USA
> (860) 594-0232
> email: kx9x@arrl.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> VHFcontesting mailing list
> VHFcontesting@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
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