In a message dated 12/22/05 1:29:07 AM Greenwich Standard Time,
steve.root@culligan4water.com writes:
Is DX contesting "wide open" to those who don't have Europe on their
doorstep? Are domestic contests "wide open" to those who don't have 1 hop
skip into 2/8/9 land on 10 meters? How do we recognize the competitive
abilities of people off the beaten path?
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According to the above criteria, those of us "off the beaten path" in W4, who
"do not have Europe on our doorstep," or "one hop skip into 2/8/9 land"
should not do well in domestic contests nor DX contests. Yet, top ten in SS is
definitely attainable from here and if you discount KP4 and KP2, winnable. The
DX contests can be won from Florida and Georgia. Several stations have done
that from those two "non-doorstep" states. It takes good operating skills and
commitment, like the late W4AN had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How would you determine who has made that commitment? Only the rich needs
apply? How do you define competitive? Top Ten box results? If we rely on
raw scores then the picture is very skewed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, it takes money to build a big station, but you don't have to be rich,
just resourceful. Besides, lots of guys (K1TTT for example) just about beg for
someone to operate their super stations in the contests that WRTC is using as
a yardstick. Six of the scores could have come from operating in Sprints,
which can be won by a good station, not a superstation. N6MJ and N2NL don't
have
stations of their own but yet always do well as guest ops. I believe N2NL
won the Sprint as guest op from a station with an 80 foot tower....big but not
superstation. N6MJ appears to be going to the WRTC on the basis of lots of
guest op appearances in Sprint.
The PY-gang has come up with a less than perfect scoring grid to determine
who is going to the WRTC party, but they have tried to make it as fair as they
could envision it. The scoring grid incorporates domestic AND DX contests. It
attempts to balance the DX advantage of the Northeast with the domestic
advantage of the Southeast in the Eastern US division. It attempts to balance
the
DX advantage of the W8/9 to the domestic advantage of the W5s in the Central
US division.
The plan is not perfect and needs to be reworked in the future, but it is a
start.
Bill K4XS
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