Ward,
I agree in pronciple with what you are saying, but...If I may quibble with
you a little bit:
> Contesting (the overall sport) is, in fact, wide open to all competitors.
> That's how you demonstrate your competitive abilities.
Is DX contesting "wide open" to those who don't have Europe on their
doorstep? Are domestic contests "wide open" to those who don't have 1 hop
skip into 2/8/9 land on 10 meters? How do we recognize the competitive
abilities of people off the beaten path?
> Contesting is more than just operating. It requires commitment and
> dedication of resources - physical, financial, and emotional - to be
> competitive in these things on a regular basis.
How would you determine who has made that commitment? Only the rich needs
apply? How do you define competitive? Top Ten box results? If we rely on
raw scores then the picture is very skewed.
>The basic premise is,
> "Given this set of rules and regulations, who has enough desire,
fortitude,
> and commitment to cut the mustard?" People fail to succeed for all sorts
of
> reasons, not all of them strictly related to ham radio or whatever sport
> we're talking about here.
Again, define "failure" or "cut the mustard". How can we say a given score
or a given operation was a failure?
I think somewhere along the line we have to decide whether the WRTC idea can
survive if it continues to be supported and attended by a limited pool of
participants, or if it has to embrace contesters from all areas. The
current WRTC is already lacking in support and interest. It would be a
shame to see the idea fade away.
73 Steve K0SR
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|