Joe
I was going to let this subject drop - I've posted too much in the last few
days.
But I get the impression from your post that there is a grave lack of
communication going on between the ARRL and the VHF contesting constituency.
You are just the kind of participant the ARRL is trying to attract and keep.
And yet you say
. . . it is nice to see one's score printed and to be able to compare it
with others in the same area. . . I think that failure to print (even if
only on the web) all of the submitted scores is going to lead to even
further declines in contest activity. Why should I submit a log when all it
is going to do is serve as a check log for the big guns?
But this very information IS present on the ARRL Web. The "scores" link on
the ARRL Web lists EVERY score submitted unless the participant asks that
the log be a check log. It lists them natively in order of descending
scores. It allows you to sort in many different ways and compare your score
to others either near or far in ways completely unavailable the way it used
to be printed in the magazine. For you, go to "Select Entries to List" at
the bottom of any page of the scores and enter "Class" = B (high power);
"Section/Division" = Midwest; Click the "List per-band counts" box. In
"Choose Sort Order" just below that, you can sort in 3 tiers by call, score,
QSOs, mults and/or section. Choose call and then section, for instance.
The resulting table contains all 6 entries that compare to yours that are
nearby. These reflectors do NOT allow attachments or I would copy out what
comes up and send it to you as an attachment.
Joe - you are not the only one who clearly does not understand that all this
power is available on the Web. That represents a failure on the part of the
Web and the ARRL through QST or whatever to communicate properly with you.
Bottom line is that you give up the ability to see your line score and the
others displayed in fine print in QST. I agree this will be unacceptable to
some people but it is a fact of economic life. If the ARRL staff tells me
they cannot afford the space, I have to believe them. In return we have
these powerful new tools that obviously many do not see are there and do not
know how to use. The old information is all available on the Web - AND MORE.
Frankly as one who likes to ponder the details in competitor's scores, I
like the present situation better than the old one. Now if I could only
figure out where W2SZ finds 105 stations to work on 3456. Maybe I need to
move back to New England.
73 Gene W3ZZ
World Above 50 MHz
FM19jd MD
50 => 10 GHz
Grid Pirates Contest Group K8GP
Member, CQWW Contest Advisory Group
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To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 12:30:55 -0600
To: vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu
From: Joe Fleagle <jfleagle1@earthlink.net>
Subject: VHF Contesting
I too am disappointed in the new ARRL contest results layout. I don't ever
expect to be in the top 10 - nor do I try to be - but it is nice to see
one's score printed and to be able to compare it with others in the same
area. The VHF contests are much more propagation dependent than HF ones -
in June, the results depend somewhat on who gets the best E skip opening or
tropo. I can't directly compare my results with someone on the East Coast
or even Chicago - band conditions and local activity simply differ too much
over those distances. I think that failure to print (even if only on the
web) all of the submitted scores is going to lead to even further declines
in contest activity. Why should I submit a log when all it is going to do
is serve as a check log for the big guns?
This is sort of going the way of drag racing. When I was young, drag racing
was for shade tree mechanics and weekend racers who wanted to go race their
personal vehicle at a legal venue. Now you need a factory sponsor,
professionally built car, and the only interest seems to be in the top fuel
competitors. The weekend racer seems to have been pretty well squeezed out.
Wonder when we will see the first factory sponsored VHF contest team? Just
an idle thought....
Joe, W0FY
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