[NLRS] activity

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 15:30:41 -0600

the common comment I keep seeing is contest, contest, contest. 5 years ago
there were usually 2 to 3 qso's going on 2 meters on any given night, now I
hear lots of dead air unless it is a contest weekend (then I turn the radio
off or go cruise hf).

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
Behalf Of Dave Aho
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2003 1:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [NLRS] activity

   Although I have only been licensed for a few months
over 10 years now, I will have to agree that it
depends on how one looks at "activity."  Just looking
back on my meager 10 years (going through the old
catalogs & QST's), I have noticedm as I am sure all
you have also, that the equipment nowdays is a bit
more diverse...meaning:  FT-726 to FT-736 to FT-847,
FT897, TS-2000X, IC-706 MKIIG, FT-100D, etc....  not
to mention the plethora of transverters for various
bands.  I do not remember seeing much for the SHF
bands back 10 years ago as there is today.  With all
this new expanded equipment, it is easier to get on
various bands.  There has also been an increase in
licensed hams joining the ranks in this last 10 years.
(No matter what the old complainers say about the
hobby dying).  When I look at the callsign progression
where the "N9's" got used up in a hurry, and so on
through the KB9's...now into the KC9's, I think that
SOMEONE has to be getting their ticket.  All the
no-code license holders are on VHF...more often than
not gettign their feet wet in SSB with the ready
availability of the multimode/band rigs for a decent
cost.  Of these, I know a lot are upgrading to General
or Extra, and working the HF bands also...easier than
it was with the morse requirement at 5 WPM.  All this
said, with everyone more often than not running
multiband rigs (HF on up...including HF IF drivers for
the Xverters for VHF+ bands) there may be what seems
to be a decline in say 2 meter SSB, but in reality,
one can only really effectively run 1 band at a time
(yeah I know it can be and is done with 2+ at a time),
especially when ragchewing.  We may have a bunch more
license holders, but the available bands (not to
mention the internet and various modes per band such
as PSK and others not available a few years + back),
the concentration at one particular frequency
range/mode is lower, but overall activity is up.  Like
it was said, contesting is up, 10GHz is more active,
etc...  Personally in the Eau Claire area, in the last
year, the addition of VHF bands for a few operators
here, has jumped up considerably.  So far, (If I can
remember right) we have in our area (in the "Charlie's
monster's" little contesting group):
                                 operators
   Band Capabilities         2002         2003
   6 meter                     7           11
   2 Meter SSB                 7           11
   220                         2            7
   432                         5           11
   903                         1            4?
  1296                         2            6?

This is not including family menbers, but just the
core bands.  Also there are more in the area, but
these are the ones I know of more personally.

   I know this was a bit long in the tooth, but I felt
I needed to break it all down as I see it.  And
remember, some also do a bit of HF contesting and band
running also....my house is set up with two different
rooms, one for HF one for VHF (mainly because of
antenna placement reasons).  Now to go see if my 160
meter conglomeration is picking up any signals.  73.

        Dave...N9TTX

  ~SNIP~

> For this years 10
> GHz contest NLRS sent in (est) 20 logs .... none of
> that happened 25 years
> ago.  So, until someone provides some data with an
> analysis that documents that
> activity is down (from 25 years ago), I disagree.
> In part, that disagreement
> is based on what we each have as a definition for
> "activity".
>
> By the way, as Rich and other have pointed out, many
> of us have many amateur
> radio interests (along with a job, family, etc),
> that also defuses our ham
> radio activity (but also makes amateur radio what it
> is for me - fun).   I was on
> 160m for the ARRL contest working weak signals (just
> like of VHF).   The fun
> thing about 160m is that RG58 (man, is that stuff
> puny !!) is great stuff !
>
> Great discussion.   Hope to hear you all on the
> bands.
>
> 73, Jon
> W0ZQ

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