I think that it is reasonable to have an idea of what you want the contest to
measure before designing your contest. Start the process by laying out your
goals.
As far as the CQ-WW DX contest goes, the contest sponsors state that the
objective is for Amateurs around the world to contact as many other hams in as
many zones and countries as possible.
Ok, that being said, why are continents figured in the scoring? Does figuring
in continents help or hinder the stated objective?
I think it hinders it because in effect it changes the objective. You now need
to contact as many hams as possible on OTHER continents. That's not what the
original objective says. Therefore the scoring system isn't matched properly to
the objective.
The real CQ WW Dx objective is to work as many hams around the world in as many
zones and countries as possible, provided they're on different continents.
So, what do you have to do now? Easy, get as close to the population centers as
possible without being on the same continent.
That monkey wrench of the continent issue really throws things off and creates
a situation where the winner and person behind him are separated not by who
worked the most countries or zones but by something not even in the objective
of the contest. They happened to make a lot more 3point q's because of the
continent issue.
If it's not in the objective, why does it have such prominence in the scoring?
WPX is even worse.
WPX sponsor states that the objective is as follows...
I. Objective: For amateurs world wide to contact as many amateurs
and prefixes as possible during the contest period.
If that is the case, then why more points if the other station is on a
different continent? If the objective is to believed, why more points for use
of the lower HF bands?
The objective is not to work as many hams and prefixes as possible, it's to
contact as many hams and prefixes on different continents and on the lower
bands as possible if you want to get the highest score for the number of
contacts that you make.
The scoring is out of line with the contest objective.
Extra points because of distance, continent, zone, band, or anything else
aren't part of the objective and therefore don't belong if the objective is to
be believed, which it clearly is not.
According to the contest sponsors, the name of the game is prefixes. According
to the scoring it's prefixes with a rather large disclaimer and strings
attached. In other words, these prefixes over here are better than those
prefixes over there. At least for some people.
If the contest is part dx contest and part prefix contest, put that in the
objective.
With that being said, it seems to me that contest rules need to be looked at to
see if they support the contest objectives or move the contest in a different
direction.
After all, without knowing what the sponsors are looking to accomplish, how can
you tell whether or not a rule makes sense? The objectives are your reference
point.
73 all and good contesting.
Scott Currier KT1B
Haverhill, MA
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