20-02-2017, 10:04 PM
I'm with Dave,
The "Arms Race" with using Grid Squares had, to be competitive with VK5 and their favorable terrain and more operators, forced myself and others in VK2 to build equipment above 10GHz. It is a real challenge to go there. Thank-you VK5, I loved the fact that we didn't know what they were up to and that to blast them out of the water we would have try harder! I like to think that they also thought the same way. This also levels the field by allowing states such as VK6 & VK7 able to sweep the field with just a handful of operators.
Gridsquares encourage you to learn and be more than a box operator. Also, if you operate in the field, it encourages you to build for reliability as a failure on one band could lead to a loss of first place. Also a bit of luck and unpredictability of what others are doing adds to the challenge. Gridsquares also enables stations with small budgets to compete as it makes expensive linear amps redundant - amps are needed to give the edge when competing for distance, and microwave amps are dear as poison. Gridsquares also make you explore the countryside and workout logistics, travel time and setup/teardown in timeframes that can make you win - its not all about radio! I racked up 1000km the last time I did a rover - an PB of 10 squares activated, all in country NSW. So the opportunity for regional areas to participate is greater than distance scoring - gridsquares get people out of the cities!
That' s what the old contest was all about, the rules were set and well known. If you wanted to come first in the five categories, you had to innovate, build and collaborate with other like minded individuals. And there is no secrecy in what we do, myself and others are more than happy to share what we are doing as we move up the bands. If someone, no matter where asked me "how did you get on 76GHz" I am happy to answer and provide details - even help build and test. It just provides more competitors and pushes me harder to win, and I of course was helped by other amateurs who know far more than me. Although come competition time.... well that's top secret!
And as we know, we already have the Ross Hull distance contest which is mostly 6 & 2m - why have three more contests that are pretty much the same?
Lets go back to the contest the way it was and put this ghastly "everyone gets a prize" experiment behind us. A decline in participation rates seems to have confirmed that things were fine in the past.
Justin - up the road from the bush....
The "Arms Race" with using Grid Squares had, to be competitive with VK5 and their favorable terrain and more operators, forced myself and others in VK2 to build equipment above 10GHz. It is a real challenge to go there. Thank-you VK5, I loved the fact that we didn't know what they were up to and that to blast them out of the water we would have try harder! I like to think that they also thought the same way. This also levels the field by allowing states such as VK6 & VK7 able to sweep the field with just a handful of operators.
Gridsquares encourage you to learn and be more than a box operator. Also, if you operate in the field, it encourages you to build for reliability as a failure on one band could lead to a loss of first place. Also a bit of luck and unpredictability of what others are doing adds to the challenge. Gridsquares also enables stations with small budgets to compete as it makes expensive linear amps redundant - amps are needed to give the edge when competing for distance, and microwave amps are dear as poison. Gridsquares also make you explore the countryside and workout logistics, travel time and setup/teardown in timeframes that can make you win - its not all about radio! I racked up 1000km the last time I did a rover - an PB of 10 squares activated, all in country NSW. So the opportunity for regional areas to participate is greater than distance scoring - gridsquares get people out of the cities!
That' s what the old contest was all about, the rules were set and well known. If you wanted to come first in the five categories, you had to innovate, build and collaborate with other like minded individuals. And there is no secrecy in what we do, myself and others are more than happy to share what we are doing as we move up the bands. If someone, no matter where asked me "how did you get on 76GHz" I am happy to answer and provide details - even help build and test. It just provides more competitors and pushes me harder to win, and I of course was helped by other amateurs who know far more than me. Although come competition time.... well that's top secret!
And as we know, we already have the Ross Hull distance contest which is mostly 6 & 2m - why have three more contests that are pretty much the same?
Lets go back to the contest the way it was and put this ghastly "everyone gets a prize" experiment behind us. A decline in participation rates seems to have confirmed that things were fine in the past.
Justin - up the road from the bush....