I disagree with the notion that the WRTC needs to be "wide open" to all
competitors.
Try this edited paragraph:
"The Olympics should be open to anyone who wants to participate. There have
to be a lot of great athletes out there who simply do not have the time or
the access to training to enter enough track meets to earn a place in the
Olympics under the current rules. If anyone were allowed to compete it
would at a single stroke wipe out the inequalities in the current system."
Or
"NASCAR races should be open to anyone who wants to drive. There have to be
a lot of great drivers out there who simply do not have the time or the car
to win enough races to earn a place in the field under the current rules.
If anyone were allowed to drive it would at a single stroke wipe out the
inequalities in the current system."
Contesting (the overall sport) is, in fact, wide open to all competitors.
That's how you demonstrate your competitive abilities. Athletes, musicians,
physicists, politicians, contesters - they all get to play their game and,
over time, the most successful are identified.
Contesting is more than just operating. It requires commitment and
dedication of resources - physical, financial, and emotional - to be
competitive in these things on a regular basis. The basic premise is,
"Given this set of rules and regulations, who has enough desire, fortitude,
and commitment to cut the mustard?" People fail to succeed for all sorts of
reasons, not all of them strictly related to ham radio or whatever sport
we're talking about here.
WRTC is a young event and I've participated to varying degrees in all of
them. Some WRTCs invited the participants. Others had a qualifying method
followed by invitation. This one is using a pure qualification metric.
Over time, the system that results in a satisfactory selection process will
be identified, just as it took contesting about 30 years to come up with
rules and categories that worked "well enough". No system will be perfect.
What we should aim for is a system that is repeatable and reasonable - then
the rules can stabilize over the long term.
73, Ward N0AX
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