This is my first full contest season with broadband. As such,
I have used the Real Time Scoreboard twice this season -
for SS CW and CQWW CW. (My experience is it isn't so much
fun if you have to dialup). Both times, it has really
enhanced my contesting experience.
How?
Each time, I found someone just above or below me in the rankings
to compete against. Conversely, even though there was no
communication, it was obvious that other person was competing
against me. (When the score updates start coming more rapidly,
that's feedback.) These mini-competitions have kept me in the
chair when conditions would normally have sent me off on a break.
Now granted, not everyone is on the scoreboard so my competition
universe is limited to a really small percentage of contesters.
Then, each time it happened, I was competing with someone in a
whole different region (Midwest vs Pacific NW) so that
can make for a strange competition. (Both of these issues
could be resolved by having more contesters sign on.)
Non the less, it was FUN.
I've heard some say this is could be a distraction for
the contester. My experience is that it helped me focus and
it only takes a second to glance at the scoreboard while CQing
or waiting for a response. (Sometimes I think it would be
interesting if there was a way to communicate with the
other contester but THAT would be a distraction and probably
in serious conflict to the Single Op rules.)
I guess the point of this message is to encourage others to
give this a try (especially if you are in the Pacific NW :>).
Most of the major loggers have integrated this functionality and
my experience using N1MM is that it can be pretty much
transparent once it was setup. I didn't think I would be very
interested in this concept because I'm usually a low power
op and competing nationally from this region can be difficult.
However, I was mistaken and I expect that I will be signing
on whenever I do a serious contest effort. Give it a try.
rock on
dink, n7wa
kent, wa
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|