Kelly Taylor wrote:
>I like the idea of distance-based scoring (why do two stations who can see
>each other across the Strait of Gibralter get to count their Q at, what,
>four times the amount that a station in Nfld can claim for working
>California?)
>
Kelly, I don't disagree with the grumbles about the different values
given QSO points on/in different continents. But distance-based scoring
strikes me as MF- or VHF-oriented thinking. By contrast, when 10 meters
is open it's a lot easier for me to work Europe than FP8. You're kinda
ignoring skip zones and other HF propagation details. Living in the
northeastern USA as I do, perhaps I should lobby for extra points when
working stations whose short-path direction from me is through the
auroral zone. Why is distance, per se, the *only* measure of
difficulty? Answer: It isn't. So let's not dwell on it.
A superlative station / operator combo will work more multipliers than
most (by having a big enough signal and good enough receiver to pick up
close-in weak signals on 10 meters, for instance) while making more QSOs
than most. To do that involves an ability to work nearby stuff,
far-away stuff, side-scatter stuff, etc., etc. I don't see any reason
to mess with that, or to single out the "far-away stuff" as more
deserving of additonal points than any other facet of propagation.
Call me old-fashioned but, having suffered through domestic CD Parties
during a time when west coasters got 9 points per QSO to the 5 points
per QSO for everyone else long after that differential had outlived its
intended purpose, I don't see why a QSO isn't just a QSO, and the
multiplier is countries or states or sections or grid squares or
whatever a specific contest sponsor chooses. I would modify this only
to the extent that in a "DX" contest perhaps contacts with your own
country should have little or no QSO point value.
The world wasn't created with the intent of making life "fair" for
contesters. We can always move to, or visit, a place where we feel we
have an advantage, if it's a big enough priority for us. I've found I
do much better in CQ WW if I get in it for the sheer fun of making QSOs,
rather than trying to "win" it from my QTH. And if I can't work
anybody Friday night, I know I'll be able to when ARRL DX comes around
in a few months.
Bud, W2RU
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