The January 2013 VHF Contest, held from 1900 UTC Saturday the 19th thru Monday the 21st until 0359 UTC, is sponsored by the ARRL and has the stated purpose:
“For amateurs in the US and Canada (and their possessions) to work as many amateur stations in as many different 2 degrees x 1 degree Maidenhead grid squares as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz. Stations outside the US & Canada (and their possessions) may only work stations in the US (and its posessions) and Canada.”
Wintertime E’s season is upon us. In an attempt to increase contest activity, the rules in this event have been modified to include a new class of operator- FM Only. Now, anyone with a VHF/UHF FM or multiband/multimode radio can participate. So get out there and make a contact! More importantly, submit a log!
Will there be a lot of newcomers to this event due to the rule change? I know a lot of people have been talking about attendence on the various mailing lists and all are interested in the contest results. It’s not clear that this category addition will work in the manner in which it was designed, and since no one is prescient, we’ll have to wait for the data to be released once its compiled. If I were to guess, I’d say that if anything happens, there will be a rising tide raising all boats effect for the larger contest stations, as they will try to pick up the FM fish in the pond- which will lead to a net increase for all large stations (ceteris paribus). The burning question in my mind is: will these FM fish be around for the contest and will small to mid-range stations benefit from the increase?
If this contest has some E’s enhancement, look for more people to stay on 6 Meters than operating on 144, 222 or 432 MHz. Let’s hope we get both E’s propagation and nice weather!