I have been a competitor the Sprints since the 1990s, and, to the best of
my recollection, have finished in the Top Ten LP every time I entered,
except once (I was 11th). I won the LP category once, and had a few top five
finishes.
I ask...please... don't change anything!
This is one contest where a small pistol can actually thrive in a
competitive environment. I have no aluminum. The thickest conductor on any
of my
antennas is #22 wire, with an average height of about 30', hidden from view
in an antenna-restricted neighborhood. I take a 20 dB pounding from the
High Power guys running 1500 watts into gain antennas, yet 30 minutes into
the contest, I'm keeping pace with many of the Big Guns. I credit this to a
positive attitude and a very agile station.
I've never done a practice Sprint, I've rarely done two Sprints in a
season (I'm a musician, and Saturday nights are my money nights). Despite
this,
I still feel like I can be competitive in this contest, and I love the
fight! Having said that, the LP scores in the most recent Sprint were
terrific, so staying in the Top Ten in the future will be a huge challenge.
But if you look at the close cluster of scores in the LP category, it seems
unlikely that anyone is cheating. But IF someone IS running 1500W to get
a competitive LP score, shame on you, you're just making us legitimate
small pistols look that much better!
The beauty of the Sprint is that the QSY rule is the great equalizer. It
forces everyone to do what us low power guys do best -- S &P! I think if
there is any way to further categorize the competition, it would be to have
SO1R and SO2R categories at both the high and low power categories. I
think this would encourage entry-level Sprinters with single-radio stations
to
compete at both power levels.
Other than that, it ain't broke, PLEASE don't fix it!
Paul, K5AF
In a message dated 9/19/2011 5:43:06 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
daleputnam@hotmail.com writes:
NAQCC uses wire antenna catagories, but their definition is that a wire
antenna with gain is the same as a yagi or quad, that's fine on 20, but
doesn't allow for the turning of the "beam" antenna... and I don't think there
are too many of us that turn a 3 or 4 hundred foot diameter antenna much.
And what about the low bands... where the gain isn't there, but is still
claimed to be a QRO station with the power limited to qrp levels.... all these
make it tuff to "level" the field. The erp of an antenna is a good point,
that is often overlooked, and so it the takeoff angle. Too bad we don't have
a standard measurement for antenna effectiveness. Then it would level the
field easier. Maybe it would be acceptable to just lower the power. Adding
classes, adds to the support efforts, and only expands the oppurtunity for
those that stretch the limits. If all of the entries were qrp, the obvious
"stretchers" would be just that, and just because they want to flaunt the
obvious that they
don't have a conscience, doesn't make me enjoy the competition any less.
--... ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy
> From: ku8e@bellsouth.net
> To: cq-contest@contesting.com
> Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 13:09:04 -0400
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] 100 Watt power limit for Sprints-Discuss
>
> When these discussions come up no one ever seems to talk about the ERP of
> the antennas that people are using. If you change the power limit to 100
> watts is it fair for someone using a wire antenna such as a dipole to
> compete directly against someone using directional gain antennas such as
> yagi's and quads ? This surely isn't a level playing field.
>
>
>
> I wish NAQP would go to high power and low power categories. I think the
> Sprints are fine the way they are. The noisy conditions on 40 and 80
meters
> in last night's Sprint was a good example of why we should keep high
power.
>
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
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