Bill,
I feel that allowing a CW, SSB/FM, and Digital contact per band makes a lot
of sense. This is similar to what many state QSO parties do and it's a lot
of fun.
Robie - AJ4F
EL29
On Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 1:39 AM Bill Schwantes <bill4070@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been lurking on this issue for some time now. I must say that the
> declining VHF contest environment since the advent of FT8 has become
> masterfully defined by many. I agree with most of the comments thus far:
> We cannot put that beautiful genie back in the bottle. Contesting life as
> we knew it has changed forever. We're doing a poor job of protecting our
> spectrum space by concentrating activity on a few channelized hot
> spots..... and so on.
>
> I'd like to see some discussion about proposed changes. I've heard some
> good ones: Allow points to be accrued by contacts made on different modes
> on each band. Have separate contests for digital and SSB/CW as examples.
> So lets hear some chatter about solution proposals.
>
> As long as the "submitted logs" metric is thought to be the accepted
> goodness factor, we'll have a difficult time convincing anyone that
> anything needs fixing. Average VHF QSOs per log is decreasing. So is
> activity on the higher UHF bands; and those are the metrics we should use
> in discussions about changes.
>
> Bill W7QQ
> DM75ao
>
> On Wed, Sep 25, 2019 at 6:40 PM Keith Morehouse <w9rm@calmesapartners.com>
> wrote:
>
> > This is all good and very true. BUT, the problem is only a small
> > percentage of ops on 6M during a June or July contest really CARE if they
> > are winning or losing.
> >
> > The vast majority of ops the "big guys" work during a killer run, be it
> on
> > 6 during the ARRL June VHF contest or on 40 during Sweepstakes phone, are
> > only there casually. You or I can stand on our street corner box and
> > preach the gospel of using SSB (OK, or CW...) during an opening,
> > threatening hell-fire, damnation and, gasp!, a contest lost and the
> > majority of those we work will think, "Why should I care ? I'm not a
> > competitor anyway. I'm just in it for a contact, a new grid, for
> something
> > to do untill the game comes on TV...".
> >
> > FT8 (I separate that mode out as the real killer of contest rate - MSK144
> > & JT65 ENHANCE your score - FT8 does the opposite) is a fine mode, being
> > used improperly by the very operators serious contesters need to put up
> > 'the good numbers'. You will probably not stop this by traditional
> means -
> > such as education through mentoring or Contest University. Heck, maybe
> it
> > SHOULDN'T be stopped and just accepted as a natural change in the VHF
> > contesting scene, like grid squares replaced ARRL sections as mults.
> >
> > If that is the case, MANY traditional ops, unfortunately for the casual
> > ops, those with some of the bigger signals, will leave (and are
> leaving...)
> > the band for other endeavors more satisfying then mouse clicking all day.
> > If this was happening to HF contesting you would see rapid movement for
> > change.
> >
> > I believe the HF contesting movers and shakers don't realize or care that
> > VHF has a problem that is lowering scores and diminishing contesting
> > skills. VHF contests, by definition, allow all modes to be used. HF
> > contests have CW weekends and Phone weekends.
> >
> > The question on 6M is not whether you love or hate FT8, it's a matter of
> > fundamentally changing the state of the VHF contesting art for the worse.
> > If this is acceptable to the majority, so be it. If it's not acceptable,
> > what changes need to be made ?
> >
> > -W9RM
> >
> > Keith Morehouse
> > via MotoG
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:30 PM Marshall-K5QE <k5qe@k5qe.com> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> The really great ops that sometimes visit here can do more than 200
> >> contacts per hour.
> >> What that means is that if you are fooling around with FT8, making 30
> >> contacts an hour(a fair estimate) while a big Es opening occurs, you
> >> will lose the contest. On the other hand if you spend loads of time
> >> calling CQ on SSB, hoping for an opening that never occurs, you will
> >> lose the contest.
> >>
> >> The contest knowledge and skill is in knowing when to be running SSB,
> >> when to be running MSK144, when to use JT65, and when to use FT8. I can
> >> almost guarantee that if you blindly park on one of the FT8 "watering
> >> holes" for the entire contest, you will not do as well as someone that
> >> uses a more "adventurous" approach.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _._,_._,_
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