[NLRS] VHF+ Contest Mentor Stations

[Russ Ramirez]

I'll second this. I would be much more inclined to keep and use the
equipment I have, and put up the 50' Universal tower I posted for sale
here, if I received a little bit of contest mentoring.

Russ
K0WFS

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 9:10 AM David Palm <thepalmhq at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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