Over the last few years there have been many debates about contests,the behaviour of contesters and what the ever increasing number of contests is doing to the hobby. Some say it is the only way forward,the TINA principle,there is no alternative (sounds familiar!) Others argue that far from being the saviour of ham radio contests are slowly killing it.
What has become apparent is that many national societies are actively pushing contesting and using it as way to attract newcomers. You could argue that shows desperation is setting in,or that contesters have quietly taken over positions of power,but the biggest danger is that amateur radio comes to be seen as nothing more that a series of contests.
Do not get me wrong,there is nothing wrong with having some contests where contesters behave like civilised human beings and respect that other,non-contest ops,have an equal right to their QSOs. Unfortunately that seems to be forgotten in the frantic rush for points.
Recently I was pleased to hear that our own national society,the RSGB,was using electronic verification of logs to ensure that contesters did not operate outside of band plans. Excellent I thought until it was pointed out that the RSGB has put contest preferred segments into band plans that contain ‘centres of activity’. On 80m the COA does not include the QRP frequency,great,but it does include the QRS COA where it is likely there will be newcomers trying to improve their Morse. The official response is that COAs are fair game,i.e. that contesters do not have to recognise them.
It seems that we have taken two steps forward and one backwards. What is the point of having COAs in the band plan is they do not have to be recognised?
The end result will be yet more ordinary working ops being forced off the band at weekends and being told to either go to the WARC bands or to go and do something else. That is just what many have done and they have not come back.
It really is about time that this problem was sorted out once and for all. The answer is very simple;contest ops adhere to the band plan at all times or are disqualified. No ifs,no buts no excuses. When this happens amateur radio will have a future.