This is my favorite photo from the contest. It is so dramatic - good shot Dwayne, I'm jealous and pleased you captured this great shot all at the same time! (hi-hi ;^) You can taste the strangeness dripping off the marking tape - yum!
But celebrating this image is not the intent of this page. Discussing things that went right and wrong from an organizational standpoint is the purpose of this page.
From those that participated we need to know what would make this more fun for you next year. From those that dwell on 12- and 17-meters we need to know if a "contest" using strange antennas and where talking about one another's antennas is more important than exchanging pointless (i.e. inaccurate) "59" reports and immediately seeking the next victim, is really a contest from your perspective. From folks just happening by this web site we are interested in your impressions of this event, is it something you'd like to try next year? From the thousands of you that downloaded the "K0S Field Manual" I'd like feedback of all kinds: was it clear, did it move too quickly or too slowly over certain points, is there something just flat wrong? (I have found a minor error or two and will be releasing an errata sheet and a second edition. The description of the long run of coax test is wrong.)
I can understand not working 12- and 17-meters so there exist a refuge for those that do not like hearing contests, but I am not certain the K0S event a "contest" is this sense of the word. I would greatly appreciate hearing from folks that frequently use these bands (erik@n0ew.org).
K0S is designed to hold QSO's with others and compare antennas. It is NOT supposed to be about scoring (of course neither is field day, and look what became of that). Basically we call it a contest because we are counting contacts and a number of awards are available should anyone running their own K0S station care to apply for them. In this sense it is a contest. However, it is not a contest in that lengthy QSO's about both station's antennas are encouraged. Somehow, I just don't think many contesters would spend 11 minutes with one contact. I also would think that most people listening to a station working others with some kind of strange antenna and exchanging information and descriptions of their antennas would sound like a contest. But this is only my opinion, and as I said, I need to hear from those of your that frequent the WARC bands.
Next year 15-meters will certainly be considered a "legal" band. The jury is still out on 12- and 17-meters. The opinion of any readers, K0S participants, and especially of the denizens of either of these bands would be greatly appreciated (see above).
Did you find the entry form confusing? I did and I am the one that made it out several months ahead of time. Admittedly I made it quite quickly because a couple of hams asked about running their own K0S stations.
I would like suggestions as to how this may be simplified. I have a few ideas and changes in mind, but I'd like to hear from others.
This is one of the most important aspects of this contest. The entire purpose of this event is to experiment with a variety of Strange Antennas and find out about the antenna system of the person with whom you are speaking. I have always found there is very little space for notes. On the other hand I don't want to waste paper and there is a lot to be said for keeping each contact to a single line.
At times I consider a combination single-line, double-line entry format. Certain items, such as your call sign and frequency and date would all be single line items. Basically those things common to all contacts would remain on a single line so that "ditto" marks (") can be easily applied.
There are other things that could be broken into a double-line format. The signal report is the first that comes to mind. It could be a single column but for each contact have two lines (imbedded in the single-line), with a "US:___" and "THEM:___" format (stacked on top of each other, of course). This would provide additional space for the comments by making each line a little taller, and compressing some of the columns widths.
Are there too many of these? What do you think is the most important parts of the K0S? Do you have any ideas on how this point (or points) may be emphasized by issuing awards?
Many things are subjective or virtually impossible to verify. Some thought needs to be given to how ideas would be applied across the board. I think a good "bonus" should be applied when a station you are holding a QSO with gets excited enough about the entire experiment to wire up their own Impromptu Strange Antenna. But how would we verify this? Require a QSO card from that station so stating? Accept images as proof? Require that station to turn in a log and cross-check it with your log for times of operation and of course to verify you spoke with that station?
As they say, the Devil is in the details. It is certainly true with taking K0S from a local special event station, or group of stations when the club did it in 2003, to a contest format so everyone can join in the fun.
The single most important thing is to enjoy yourself while "competing" in the K0S contest. To this end I really do want to hear from you and listen to any ideas you may have as to how this can become more enjoyable each year.
Many thanks to those of you that participated in our first year as a "contest" (2004), and I'd like to thank KJ4RB in North Carolina for sending me the images of his shop light basement dipole he rigged up on the spur of the moment.
Rest assured we really did obtain the official 1x1 call. It is in the database if you care to verify. Something got mucked up there - ARRL is the agency with whom the registration was made for the call sign. Somewhere along the line the special event listing was never printed in QST.
"World Radio" magazine, from whom we have borrowed (with permission these past two years) Kurt N. Sterba's pen name, graciously printed the special event announcement. I can't offer enough thanks to Kurt, for he is the inspiration for this event. It was from reading his "Aerials" books that I got excited by the prospect of flying strange antennas!
eHam.net was a great help too. I wrote a short description of our event and they acted very quickly to post it in their news section and posted it on the front page. Many people found out about the special event from their web site and I greatly appreciate the service they provide to the amateur radio community.
While I didn't come across any of you while I was operating, I did receive a few emails from some of you operating your own K0S contest station. I hope you had as much fun as Dwayne and I did, because we really enjoyed ourselves, even with the storms frustrating our efforts somewhat. That is part of the fun of operating portable, or operating with strange antennas in the first place - overcoming difficult tasks.
So, thank you all, and I look forward to receiving your logs and entry forms. I hope I get to work your station next year!
73, Erik n0ew
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73 de Erik, nØew
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