[NLRS] VHF+ Contest Mentor Stations

[David Palm]

I like this idea a lot, Bill.  It'd work well for us locally -- we have a
new "club" station in Viroqua, in memorial of KB9RPN, and it's set up for
50/144/432 now, with 222 pending.  I'd love to host some "mentored"
contests from there.  As you noted, if I just invite guys to show up, they
might spend more time watching than operating and go away feeling a little
let down.  But if they could all hand out points, it'd be a lot more
engaging and I think they'd learn a lot more.  Then, hopefully, some of
them catch the VHF-UHF weak signal bug and we end up with more stations on
the air.

73,

David  W9HQ


On Tue, Aug 20, 2019 at 11:38 PM W. S. Mitchell <wsmitchell3 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> As I was roving for the 10 GHz contest, I was thinking a bit about barriers
> that hams have to getting on the air beyond 146/446 MHz FM.  It occurred to
> me that one thing the ARRL could do to increase mentorship, increase on-air
> activity, and forge connections among hams would be to have a Mentor
> Station rule for VHF+ contests that would be similar in nature to the
> Family Rule.
>
> It would work like this: a station (fixed, rover, or portable) could be
> used as a mentor station, at which operators who have not participated in a
> VHF+ contest in at least a year (inclusive of the current contest) could
> operate under their own callsigns on the same equipment.  The newer
> operators would gain valuable experience and would not need to invest time
> and money into designing and building a station.  Experienced operators
> would get a chance to mentor these operators in a 1-on-1 or 1-on-few
> situation, and the overall level of activity would be increased with more
> callsigns to work.  The newer hams would also begin to get familiar with
> some of the regular calls on the air, which strengthens camaraderie and
> connections that may lead to further opportunities for development.
>
> It may be prudent to establish a maximum number of trainee operators that
> could use a station, but it has been my experience in trying to get a
> multi-operator station together that huge numbers of trainees are
> unlikely.  One way in which this improves on the current multi-operator
> rules is that from a multi-operator station, each other station can be
> worked once per band.  For a small VHF station, that might mean only one or
> two contacts per operator, if that!  The mentor station rule would allow
> each operator to work a full complement of stations, giving them the
> maximum opportunity to gain experience.
>
> The Mentor Station rule would give VHF+ clubs and operators additional
> incentive for recruitment and mentorship because it increases local
> participation directly in the short term, but also can yield additional
> independent logs in subsequent contests, activity days, and general
> operating conditions.  This would also be a great way to form partnerships
> between contest/VHF-weak-signal clubs and public-service groups.
>
> Technical and financial barriers to entry for VHF+ weak signal operation
> are significant, but having a Mentor Station rule would get additional
> operators on the air, interested in the hobby, and develop their skills in
> radio communication.  With participation in VHF+ events often very low,
> this would be an easy way to boost turnout and expose more hams to methods
> and modes they don't usually use.
>
> I'd be happy to discuss this further, if that would be helpful.
>
> Regards,
>   Bill Mitchell, AE0EE
> EN34ix
>
> cc: Matt Holden, ARRL Dakota Division Director
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