[CQ-Contest] M/2 in NAQP teams

[Dean Wood <dwood@cisco.com>]

Jim White, K4OJ wrote:
> A review of the recent NAQP high claims on 3830 reflector shows that the 
> top scores are just about equal to double the single op high score... 
> why not allow an M-2 entry to count for two of the five spots on a team 
> as AA5B has requested in the past?
>
> AA5B proposed this but was in essence been told that doing such would do 
> nothing to enhance participation in the contest therefore it was not 
> worth pursuing.


This is an excellent idea, Jim.  I support this, and urge the NAQP 
contest organizers to consider this rule change beginning with the 
July/August 2004 NAQP contests.

Contrary to what AA5B was allegedly told, I believe this rules change 
would indeed enhance participation in NAQP for the following reasons:

1. Encourages M/2 capable stations to operate M/2 because they can 
contribute to a club team instead of being forced to operate S/O just to 
be on a team.  This increases the number of QSOs available for everyone. 
 How?  Well, a number of operators likely to join an NAQP M/2 effort do 
not have stations at home.  Let's take the recent W6YX NAQP SSB M/2 as 
an example.  The three operators were K6IF, N7MH, and W6LD.  N7MH does 
not have a home station.  W6LD often loans his rig for W6YX efforts. 
K6IF has a station 150 miles away and is unlikely to drive there for a 
10 hour contest.  Although I did not operate this time in NAQP, I often 
operate at W6YX, as I live in an apartment and do not have a station. 
So, there are two possibilities here: a) one person operates at W6YX as 
a S/O, making as many QSOs as he/she can (perhaps part time), while the 
rest of us will not be on the air that weekend; b) we all get a chance 
to operate a M/2, make more QSOs, and increase the QSO count for lots of 
other stations.  These are extra QSOs that would not be made otherwise. 
 It is not like a M/2 is taking away several S/O entries.

2. It would encourage club mentoring.  There is no incentive to do this 
today because M/2 entries cannot count toward a club's team entry.   By 
allowing a M/2 to participate in an NAQP team entry, the station owner 
could invite new club members to join him/her and participate as a M/2 
for the club.  This mentoring opportunity would be likely to positively 
train and energize new club members.  These new members would probably 
plan to participate in future NAQP contests (perhaps as a S/O at their 
home station) with their new knowledge and enthusiasm, instead of not 
receiving any mentoring and probably not participating in NAQP at all. 
This leads to enhanced participation in the future.  All this 
interaction could be what's needed to keep some new contesters from 
drifting away from contesting (and ham radio in general), and keep them 
coming back to NAQP.


Referencing past NAQP results, the proposal for a M/2 to consume 2 out 
of 5 entries of a team entry is very fair.  In fact, it can be 
successfully shown that two good S/O entries will outscore one good M/2 
entry.  Requiring a M/2 to consume two entries in a team would not 
degrade the integrity of past NAQP team records.

Thanks in advance for reconsidering this proposal.

73...
-Dean - N6DE


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