I don't want to see this discussion go on forever, but .....
Maybe KM9P has the right idea with his single-op contest season ratings that
used to be published in the NCJ.
We are never going to come up with an acceptable handicapping system for
each contest - there are too many variables. However, over the course
of a contest season, there is some inherent geographic averaging using
KM9P's system of taking the results from a cross section of domestic and
DX contests.
Here's some ideas:
1) Each year, create single-op ratings, ala KM9P, using the results from
a cross section of contests.
2) If there are Y contests in the cross section, your rating is based on
your best performance in X out of Y contests. That way, you can miss a few
contests, and still do well in the ratings.
3) You must operate a minimum of Z contests to be rated.
This system doesn't solve the problem of 100 watts/dipole entrants vs.
1500 watts/beam, but it does reduce geographic discrepancies. If you
want to improve your rating, guest op at a big station.
Steve, N2IC/0
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