Well Jim, you have somehow reached the incorrect presumption that I "don't
work" state QSO parties.
Granted, I don't have the weekend operating time like I used to, with the new
job and new responsibilities. But I didn't realize that meant that I needed to
let you personally know every time I operate to some degree in an event.
But personal wisecracks aside...
So your core complaint is that other state QSO parties have different rules
that CQP. So what? Considering that in most of these cases, there is are two
broad categories for entrants... in state and out of state... I don't see what
the problem is.
I again repeat what I said earlier... boycotting a state or regional QSO party
simply because it's a little harder to work some of the multipliers on the high
bands is counter-productive. It reduces the number of potential stations in
the "pool" that are available to work, which in turn reduces the incentives for
the in-state stations (fixed, portable, rover or mobile) to go to the high
bands and work people.
In the Salmon Run this last weekend, I knew going in that simply because of
distance and propagation, I would only hear and work a relative fraction of the
many stations on. That didn't stop me from having fun working the ones I did,
when time permitted operating. I would like to think that at least some those
stations knowing that I and others like me WERE searching for them, amongst the
TXQP, Route 66 OTA, and other weekend operating events also QRV, gave them
incentives to stay on the high bands as long they could.
If you truly believe that the rules of a given contest are not in your favor or
are even stacked against you, then IMHO you should contact the sponsoring club,
committee, or organization and bring your concerns to them. If they feel your
concerns are valid, they may be willing to consider a rule change, update, or
clarification.
73
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Brown <k9yc@audiosystemsgroup.com>
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Sent: Tue, Sep 20, 2022 8:17 am
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] QSO Party Rules
On 9/19/2022 6:43 PM, Ron Notarius W3WN via CQ-Contest wrote:
> The primary concern originally raised was that the rules for selected State
> QSO Parties are written to unfairly influence mobiles to not operate enough
> if at all on the high bands.
>
> One of the contests in the list of perpetrators was the Pa QSO Party.
>
> I’m very curious as to exactly which “mobile influencing” rules in the event
> make it suspect. Because I don’t see any.
I suspect that may be because you don't work state QSO parties.
Stated in my initial post -- the problem is that in-state stations get
multipliers for in-state counties.
The way most of these parties work, mobiles get another mult for each
state they work for each county from which they work them. If a mobile
works me from 20 counties on 2 bands, we each get 40 mults; if he works
KA6BIM (in OR) from 25 counties on 2 bands, they both get another 50
mults. And so on.
An important part of contesting is station building and optimization.
From CA, I can work the best equipped mobiles on 80 in states like TX
because both of us have worked hard on antennas. Ditto for 40 during the
day.
And the goal is not "fairness," it is to improve the contest by making
it more fun for out-of-state stations, thus giving in-state stations
more stations to work. As Duffey said quite well, you alternate between
bands that are open each time you hit a new county. W0BH did a masterful
job of this in a GAQP several years ago, hitting a huge number of
counties, a multi-op, I think, both CW and SSB. When 40 was productive,
he'd hit 20 for 5-15 minutes, then head down to 40.
Good out of state ops keep checking the operating frequencies (and
spots) of the various mobiles running between counties, and are ready to
pounce when they hit a new county. That's the fun of these contests. Few
mobiles, not a lot of fun.
In CQP, for example, 58 mults for in-state stations are States and
Provinces, 58 mults for out-of state stations are CA counties, and
everyone can work everyone. Not a lot of mobiles here -- the counties
are far too large, so we work hard to have all counties covered by fixed
or portable stations.
73, Jim K9YC
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