The assisted/unassisted thread has taken an interesting twist. The following is purely DEVIL'S ADVOCATE on my part. Yeah, I'm on the contest committee for CQWW, but please ignore that (if you can). F
Doug KR2Q asks: I'm answering here from the viewpoint of a relative newcomer to amateur radio, one who enjoys contesting but has no real delusions of being a "serious" competitor. One of the reasons