In a message dated 3/23/01 7:25:40 AM Pacific Standard Time,
owner-cq-contest@contesting.com writes:
> I understand that it might not be good for all contesters to stop
> their subscriptions because that might cause CQ Magazine to
> experience hard times and thus not continue to sponsor contests.
In case you haven't noticed, CQ magazine (along with QST, other magazine
publishers and ALL ham dealers and manufacturers [with a couple of
exceptions]) IS experiencing hard times. The ham marketplace is soft if not
declining, advertising is down, margins are slim and you'd have to be nuts to
get into business in this market/hobby.
>
> I understand that contest results are not printed until just before
> the next running of the contest in order to stimulate interest in
> the next running of the contest.
>
That's not the reason but it doesn't hurt. The reason that they appear
when they do is because of the TREMENDOUS amount of work involved in
collecting, entering, analyzing and publishing the results. I guarantee you
that Bob Cox, K3EST, is working right up to the last minute of his deadline
finishing the CQWW results. Foreign entries sometimes arrive months past the
deadline and much has to be entered manually (ALL of the soapbox comments,
scores, etc.) are only a couple of reasons why it takes so long. While
electronic logs have speeded up some things significantly, there is more log
analysis and scrutinization than ever before and it all takes time. Without
the volunteer efforts of EVERYONE involved, CQ wouldn't have anything to
print. (What K3EST gets "paid" for his efforts amounts to about five cents an
hour for the work involved - but that's another story.)
I primarily read CQ for the contest results so I'm not any different than
most folks on this reflector. Without the support and commitment of CQ
magazine, the CQWW contest wouldn't be the premier event that it is. VIVA LA
CQ!
Cheers, Steve K7LXC
Contest hacker
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