Using distance and propagation factors makes a lot of sense to me to help
level the contest playing ground. We do a lot of this in sports car
racing. We even insist upon technical inspections when cars that should
have nearly equivalent capabilities pull way ahead of similar cars. Yes,
the driver can make a big difference, but not when entering a straight away
at the same time and speed.
Distance is easily calculated. Accounting for it is "easily" done. Paths
are a different story as we all know and maybe not love. Bob, KQ2M, is
headed in the right direction when considering propagation that affects
different paths differently. However, that relies on predictions for
different paths which we know is often inaccurate and sometimes by large
amounts.
Consider actual propagation using WSPRLite. A 200 mW transmitter at each
participant's location would provide real time accurate data at many WSPR
receiving sites around the world. Not being a programmer, but familiar
with Excel, I think it would be "easy" for a programmer to include WSPR and
distance data in a scoring algorithm. It would take someone much smart
than I to figure out how to add these two factors in scoring a contest.
I've been a proponent for using WSPRLit to give real antenna performance
comparisons for a couple of years at presentations I've give on the
subject. Much to the surprise of many, radio is based on science. While
anecdotes are interesting, I prefer data that tell me I need to keep both
the new and the old antenna but to use the new one as the default. Why not
use data on which the majority can agree for scoring one or more contests?
Good luck in the contest and stay healthy!
73, Bill Mader, K8TE
ARRL New Mexico Section Manager
*ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio**™*
Duke City Hamfest BoD Vice-Chairman www.dukecityhamfest.org 18-20 Sep 2020
Secretary and Past President, Albuquerque DX Association
W6H NM Coordinator, Route 66 On-the-Air 4-13 Sep 2020
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