[MAMS] [CQ-Contest] ARRL Removes Restrictions on 146.52 in all ARRL VHF contests

[Zack Widup]

Interesting! This may help.

73, Zack W9SZ


On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 5:43 PM, Ward Silver <hwardsil at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just received from Dan Henderson, N1ND at HQ.
>
> 73, Ward N0AX
>
> At its July 16 meeting, the Programs and Services Committee unanimously
> accepted and approved a recommendation from its VHF and Above
> Revitalization Committee to remove the prohibition of making contest
> contacts on 146.52 MHz simplex.  This rule, as we understand it, originated
> back to when 2-meter radios were mostly rock-bound and the use of 146.52
> MHz was commonplace.  The VHF and Above Revitalization Committee's research
> concluded that the 146.52-exclusive restriction is unnecessary today. It
> was also reviewed by the ARRL Executive Committee at its October 2015
> meeting.
>
> Permitting the use of 146.52 MHz would allow new/curious contesters
> possessing only FM mode radios to stumble on more contacts, increasing the
> chances that they will be drawn further into VHF+ contesting, which is the
> primary aim of the Revitalization committee.  Word of the Revitalization
> committee's recommendation and PSC's subsequent approval was floated at
> last July’s Central States VHF Conference and met with great enthusiasm.
>
> This rule change eliminates Rule 1.8 in the “General Rules for ARRL
> Contests Above 50 MHz”, with the subsequent sections of Rule 1 being
> renumbered accordingly.It becomes effective with the 2016 ARRL January VHF
> Contest and subsequent ARRL VHF Contests. It also will be incorporated into
> the ARRL Field Day rules.
>
> Dan Henderson, N1ND
>
> Regulatory Information Manager / Acting Contest Manager
>
> ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio
>
> 860-594-0236
>
> dhenderson at arrl.org <mailto:dhenderson at arrl.org>
>
>