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Organizers Call 2007 VHF/UHF Spring Sprints a Success
By Jamie Dupree NS3T
Under new management, the VHF/UHF Spring Sprints wrapped up last weekend in the U.S. with a final four-hour flourish on 6 meters, as contest organizers proclaimed that the five different contests had been a success.
"I'd actually been researching what it would take to become a contest organizer" said John Kalenowsky, K9JK, "and fortunately Steve W4SHG had been thinking the same.
The two men stepped in on short notice early in 2007 to organize the popular series of five different VHF/UHF contests over five weeks when the East Tennessee DX Association dropped its sponsorship (The Fall VHF Sprints will still be sponsored by the Southeastern VHF Society.)
"I am doing quite a bit of learning as I go along" said Kalenowsky, "but it's really looking like it has gone quite well, especially considering that Steve and I had no specific experience at doing something like this."
Their work drew high praise from others contesters like Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ, who writes "The World Above 50 MHz" column in QST.
"Compared to Europe the US has almost no VHF contests. We can ill afford to lose five more."
"We need to thank John and Steve for stepping up to run the Spring Sprints" said Zimmerman.
Echoing that assessment was Jeff Klein, K1TEO, who believes the entire VHF/UHF contest community needs to help better publicize the Sprints, to breathe some new life into VHF/UHF contesting overall.
"I think overall the Sprints have suffered from poor awareness for a number of years" said Klein. "For example, my Dad (W2GKR) is not on the various reflectors so often (he) is unaware of the Sprints other than my telling him. I wonder how many others are in the same position?"
How to get more people on the air in VHF/UHF contests has been a big issue for years. Klein admits "activity has been on the decline" except for rovers.
As for Sprint sponsors K9JK and W4SHG, they not only ran the individual contests on 50, 144, 222, 432 and 902 MHz and up, but they also hit the road as rovers to drum up even more activity.
Kalenowsky says he keeps things simple on the road, acknowledging that it may not be "the most competitive...but it is how I enjoy participating in VHF/UHF contests and I do have fun doing it."
Now that the Sprints are over, the focus can shift to the ARRL June VHF contest, for many the biggest VHF/UHF battle of the year.