[NLRS] VHF+ Contest Mentor Stations

Fri Aug 23 11:09:52 EDT 2019

I have to agree.

My own love for the VHF and up bands was absolutely formulated with my boyhood experiences attending VHF NFD (https://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/19rules/VHFNFD.shtml ) with the Coulsdon Amateur Transmitting Club even prior to being licensed.

Care would naturally need to be taken to prevent abuse (such as occurred with that one club a decade or two back that set up a beam at some hamfest pointing at their multi-op site and a sign prompting attendees to plug in their handheld and work the station) but the premise I believe is a great idea.

Chris Cox, N0UK
chrisc at chris.org LinkedIn.com/in/Chris-Cox-CISM

> On Aug 23, 2019, at 9:09 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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