Trey, N5KO, wrote:
>In the 13 years preceding the change in format from 30 to 36
>hours, the US SOAB competition in WPX SSB was won three times by
>three different west coast stations and one time by a midwest
>station. I agree with Art that under the present system the east
>will win 99% of the time.
Dan, KL7Y, wrote:
>But this does not prove that the 30 hour contest rule was more
>equitable than a 36 hour rule. Rather, it probably relects the
>relative contest activity of JAs (slightly down) and Europeans
>(huge increase) over that time frame.
It probably doesn't prove any one variable, but surely time working
Europe is one of them. JAs being down and Europe's hugh increase
only strengthens Trey's position to return to the original rule.
Europe "hugh" increase???
Dan continues:
>If I were to race against Carl Lewis in the 200 meter dash, I
>would lose by a lot. If we ran the 100 meter dash I would still
>lose, but it would be closer. However, I would not delude myself
>into thinking that my chances of winning were better in the 100
>than the 200.
I assume the analogy is the distance from the finish line to you
after Carl won would be shorter in the 100. The debate is about
time. I would dare say that your best .01 second vs his best .01
second would be very close. But you would still lose. Better make
it 1 usec.
Dan continues:
>The advantage of the East Coast is the geographical proximity to
>QSO-rich and multiplier-rich Europe. That advantage is not time
>dependent.
I would rewrite the above to read:
BECAUSE the East Coast has a geographical advantage, the rules
should return, as they were written, to reduce this advantage by
off time.
Twenty years ago I wrote an article for the Alaska DX association
on the WPX contest and why it was "best" for Alaska. The fact of
not having to work multipliers on 88/160 and the time that the East
Coast had to "wait" out good Europe propagation allowed me to place
in the top ten. At the same time my CQWW scores were/are a joke.
Truth is everyone wants any advantage they can get. Me too. We have
a great spread of contests through the year and some are better for
my location/station/skill/ then others. Within reason let's not fix
any of them. Run them the way they were intended. WPX had a Rule
fix. Unfix it please.
If you want a fair/hard/true contest for contesters how about
something like:
1. your best hours against mine.
2. hard exchange.
3. CW only with lots of noise.
4. Large antennas. No 28 MHz midgets.
5. Score by distance.
6. Logs computerized and processed by unforgiving software.
7. Christmas time to really check out dedication.
Oops. I think this is the Stew Perry.
73 Rich KL7RA East Coast contester 1968-1971
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