Some of the guys have also been tossing around the idea
of whether the ARRL should just create seperate categories
for those who want to compete with or without digital.
There could be analog-only, digital-only, and combined categories.
Combined ops will want to work as many analog-only ops
as possible which would also help their score but they would
only be competing with other analog-only stations.
-73 Ron WZ1V
----- Original Message -----
From: John Kludt <johnnykludt@gmail.com>
To: Rick R <rick1ds@hotmail.com>
Cc: vhf contesting <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2019 22:03:07 -0600
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Digital and VHF contests
> Rick,
Interesting thoughts. Maybe this is committee work, but if run as a
separate digital contest there is no need for a points differential. I
asked a good friend who is an accomplished HF operator why CW Q's where
worth 2 points and SSB Q's were worth 1 point. I had always assumed it had
to somehow do with the fact that CW was in some way more difficult. His
answer surprised me: "A good SSB operator can make Q's at about twice the
rate of a good CW operator so it is a mathematical way to level the
playing field." If that logic were applied to VHF contesting digital Q's
should actually be worth *more* than SSB Q's and maybe on a par with CW
Q's. Right now as we all know there is no differential between Q's by
mode. And maybe it should stay that way - just get that grid anyway you
can!
There are also interesting and conflicting threads on the digital modes -
specifically FT8. On the one hand people complained that FT8 was too
slow, ergo FT4. On the other hand the same folks are now bemoaning the
lack of the ability to rag chew during a contest exchange. At Contest
University during Dayton last year many participants sported buttons with
the word "Please" with the universal "Not" symbol on top of it. Extra
words just slow you down. So I guess the question then becomes in VHF
contesting which is the driver, rate or the ability to visit during the
exchange. It seems to me that as individuals it is a hobby that we do for
fun so everyone is free to make their own decision. But to make the claim
that FT8 is too slow *and *complain about the inability to kibitz during a
digital contact is a bit if a stretch.
Your comment about the casual users seem to me to be close to the center of
the issue. In the days before digital the casual users had to line up and
take their turns mostly working the big stations. Great for the run
stations and maybe not so great for the little guys. I saw one comment in
this thread about the frustration of patently waiting your turn only to
have the big station scamper off to "run the bands." In the old days that
was just the way it was. With the digital modes we now have a "free
market" for Q's for the casual operator. They now have a choice. They can
be good S&P stations and scurry around looking for the run stations or they
can go with FT8/FT4. As I have said before, the casual operator's goal is
to maximize their score not the scores of the big stations. And if the
digital modes ultimately give the casual operator a bigger score, isn't
that as good contesters what they should do?
Interesting times!
John
On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 8:44 AM Rick R <rick1ds@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I?m resending this to a wider readership. Having been the author of the
> June VHF contest results for QST for several years (prior to FT8) I had all
> of the entrants scores. In a nutshell, 90% of those log submissions were
> ?low? scoring casual contesters. My read is that most were out to join in
> the fun, give out points to the big guns and multis, say hi to another
> VHFer and to perhaps get some new grids. They operated for a few hours when
> the bands were busy?and the detailed Packrat log reviews done by WA3RLT
> showed the first few contest hours, Sat eve and Sunday eve as peak times,
> at least for the Mid-Atlantic and northeast. Now it is far more difficult
> for that casual op to find the concentrated activity except on the FT8
> frequency. And moving up the bands based on a completed FT8 contact is
> problematic. More recently I have been writing up the QST EME contest
> results and there are similar issues regarding digital vs CW, especially
> for contests. The introduction of JT65 has been a great boon to EME
> activity, yet there is still substantial CW activity. I don?t have any
> solutions to returning to the activity of the past, but here are some
> thoughts.
> There have been EME contest activities sponsored by EU groups (ARI) that
> were digital only or CW/SSB only. The ARRL EME contest separates results of
> those who use CW/SSB only from those who use digital only or digital plus
> CW/SSB. Many have suggested that CW and/or SSB QSOs be given a higher point
> value than digital contacts. Others have proposed credit for multiple QSOs
> on the same band with the same station for 2 or 3 modes. Others thought
> there should be separate contests for digital and other modes.
> Hopefully the ARRL radiosport staff will evaluate what is happening and
> get an adhoc committee to discuss and make recommendations regarding VHF
> contests. We have been given fantastic tools with digital programs. We need
> to be able to utilize them and yet maintain a balance that keeps some of
> the personality of the stations and operators on the air that makes it easy
> and fun for the casual VHF contesters who are the real majority of those on
> the air for the contest weekends who help feed the logs and scores of the
> big guns. Rick K1DS
>
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