I've always enjoyed reading the contest write ups on 3830 or my contest club
e-mail list. I noticed that more often than not folks with big scores (and
big stations) do write ups. That led me to start a blog where I do write
ups of station improvements and contest efforts from my little pistol
perspective. While "formal" recognition in the publications is nice, each
contester putting their own stories out there on the internet goes a long
way - wether it be in a personal website, blog, 3830 entry or soapbox
comment on the ARRL website.
73 de Al, KE1FO
-----
Visit my amateur radio contesting blog at ke1fo.wordpress.com.
On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 4:57 AM, Dean Wood <cqden6de@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Want to hear/read about small stations with good results -
> > stand up guy's !
> >
> > Let's keep encouraging the people with less strong cards
> > in the game with new ideas, to keep everybody motivated.
> >
> > Ulli, ON5KQ
>
>
> Ulli,
>
> You have touched on two issues: telling the story of the average
> station, and motivating/recognizing stations like them throughout the
> world.
>
> We have not done a particularly good job as a contest community with
> combining these two points.
>
> Today, we have multiple venues for any contester to tell his story,
> regardless of score or size of station. The most prominent is the use
> of the 3830 reflector web form and soapbox. I did not operate in CQWW
> CW at all, but I have enjoyed reading several CQWW CW contest stories
> using the 3830 web based archives. (web based archives are the only
> way I read the 3830 and cq-contest reflectors) I either click on
> individual 3830 posts, or I check out the entire collection of soapbox
> comments with the file that WA7BNM generates. The 3830 reflector is
> not just for big guns! For ARRL contests, the ARRL has a soapbox web
> page where any station can write their story and upload pictures.
> Some stations upload videos on YouTube of themselves operating the
> contest to give an idea of a contest from their perspective. And the
> ARRL's online contest writeup offers sidebars for contesters to tell
> their own story and include pictures, although the web report is
> limited to ARRL members. I just wish more stations would take
> advantage of these opportunities!
>
> As for motivation and recognition, perhaps we could attempt a new
> strategy. Instead of adding new contest categories, we can add a new
> feature to contest results called "The Other 95%." This extra section
> would be for those stations not in the ARRL's Top 10 boxes or CQ's
> "Top Scores" table. Stations would write a few paragraphs about how
> they operated in the contest, or improved their score over last year,
> or overcame an obstacle to even operate. A relevant picture would be
> included. The 5 most interesting stories get published in CQ or QST
> in a few pages with the contest results article. Examples: an
> operator that solved a power line or electronic device noise problem
> in the neighborhood and briefly how he did it, or an operator that
> transitioned from a random wire to a homebrew 40m 2-el half-square
> wire Yagi in his backyard supported by trees, or an operator that
> joined (or hosted) a local club Multi-op where the group helped to put
> up a tower and new antenna, or someone who operated portable in his
> auto parked near sea water, or someone who joined a contest club
> recently and improved his operating skills and CW copying ability,
> etc. There are numerous stories like this all the time, yet they are
> rarely highlighted in contest results.
>
> A section like this in contest results could be inspirational to the
> average contester, give ideas to the reader on how to improve his
> situation for next year, motivate the casual contester into
> participating next year, focus on success stories that encourage
> constant improvement instead of highlighting a station that is
> satisfied to stay at that score level and gives excuses why further
> improvement is not possible, and recognize the operators of the top 5
> stories in a way that a line score isn't able to achieve. The top 5
> stories could even turn into a competition to get in next year's list!
> All this would make contest writeups more interesting, and would be
> created with user generated content, proofread by someone at the
> magazine.
>
> Maybe this is just the type of content we need to convince the ARRL to
> expand the size of the contest writeups. And with the space given for
> CQ contest writeups in CQ Magazine (the 2007 CQWW CW writeup was
> printed across 21 pages), perhaps we could find room for this, or
> exchange it with the 1.5 pages of "QRM", maybe adding one or two extra
> pages in total.
>
> I like reading the stories about the top stations and operators. But
> I would also like to read about the successes of the average contester
> trying to get better.
>
> 73...
> -Dean - N6DE
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