Bob,
Think about it a bit...sitting in the zone 8 Caribbean locations...easily
40-50% of the contacts made from those locations are US/VE...I've been
contesting from the Caribbean for over 10 years...it DOES make a difference.
PJ4A might not be a good example however (Most of my contesting has been from
either PJ2T or PJ4A...with V26 and J3 thrown in) because it's 3 point land from
there vs. 2pt land from the zone 8 locations...
Sitting in PJ4 we can run the US all day long and make 3 points per QSO...go a
couple hundred miles EAST to J3 or NORTH EAST to PJ7 and you only get 2 points
per Q...and may even be a little further from the US...and you are suggesting
that the 2 points be dropped to 1?
1. I personally don't see that happening and,
2. That WOULD be a game changer for most everyone (IMHO) that goes to the
islands...hell I'll stay home in the US and save the $1500 per trip expended to
go to the Caribbean....not to mention the additional expense of maintaining the
station.
Drop them to 1 point contacts for NA and why would I want to invest in going to
the islands...except for the vacation...and I can tell you right now that every
time I go to PJ4A (WWSSB 2013 being the most recent) it is NOT a vacation. We
arrived Sunday, spent Monday setting up the inside equipment, then spent the
rest of the week getting the RX antennas in place and making what ever repairs
were needed. At the end of the contest we tear it all down on Monday and hop a
plane Tuesday...9 days in Bonaire but aside from dinners out, no
relaxation...some times I think the Caribbean environment is worse than being
in Alaska or the Antarctic...it is hell on equipment inside and outside...
Welcome back btw...nice to have another station to work from PJ4!!!
73,
Marty
W1MD
---- Bob Kupps <n6bk@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>>Bob: I think the history of this is that it was done to encourage
> expeditions for the contests to North American island countries in the
> Caribbean. It did that and their being there made those
> multipliers available to everyone. It would be hard to change the rule
> now that so many people have so heavily invested in stations in the
> North American
> Caribbean. Welcome back to contesting. Maybe we worked this weekend
> from PJ4A (a Caribbean multiplier in South America). If not, hope to
> work you again soon while we have good conditions to your part of the
> world. Keep up the good work. 73, John, K4BAI.
> Well John I just can't believe that all those Caribbean stations would take
> down their towers and go home should they be required to play by the same
> rules as everyone else. If I were competing in NA I certainly wouldn't care
> to look at my score in the rankings knowing it was handicapped. 73 bob
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