CQ-Contest
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [CQ-Contest] Contest competitiveness

To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Contest competitiveness
From: David Gilbert <xdavid@cis-broadband.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 15:43:11 -0700
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>

In general, and while I empathize with your concern, I don't think that it's very practical to have a restricted antenna category in a contest. It's simply too arbitrary to draw the line between all the possible permutations without any practical way of judging their actual performance, especially when factors like terrain, ground conductivity, and nearby structures are considered. With power levels, we generally have fairly discrete jumps in actual usage ... and it is a quantifiable and easily measured difference. Most contestants that are not running five watts are likely to be running 100 watts or more, and most contestants running more than 100 or 150 watts are probably running more than 500 watts. With antennas, there are LOTS of non-quantifiable factors affecting performance in a continuous range. It doesn't really matter if the impact is huge if the ability to realistically do anything about it is minimal.

WPX makes an attempt at this with its tribander/wires category, but even that has limitations in terms of relevance. I still hold a call area TB/wires record for WPX from back when I had only low wire dipoles simply because I live on a long hillside that gave me a very low takeoff angle to the high population centers of the eastern U.S. and Europe. I subsequently upgraded to a tower with a couple of yagis, and in multiple comparison tests with a nearby ham my single OB16-3 with its 4 elements on 20m at 73 feet on that same hillside was consistently better to Europe than his triple stack of C31XR's at 40/80/120 feet sitting on flat terrain.

I manage the Competition Ladder for the Arizona Outlaws Contest Club ( http://www.arizonaoutlaws.net/ladderresults.html ), which sums and tracks points scored by members in various operating categories from more than 50 contests over a running 12 month period. I included a "Restricted" category to cover members constrained to marginal setups (mobile whips mounted on a balcony railing, attic dipoles, etc), but the criteria I use is strictly arbitrary and I have trouble justifying the demarcation line even to myself. I can barely imagine the grief a contest sponsor would have trying to define and justify a similar distinction to a much larger and less understanding user base.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 9/17/2014 7:37 AM, David Cockrum wrote:
As I read the responses about the history of low power, specifically 150 vs 100 watts, I think we are missing the elephant in the room.When it comes to factors that help an operator do well in contests at the top of the list should go antennas.We divide competitors in many contests into three categories based on power:high, low, and qrp.Yet in each of these categories the best scores are made by those with the best antenna systems.

For the most part the power categories divide us into groups that correspond to antenna systems as well.The stations with big antenna systems usually operate in the high power category, those of us with lesser systems often operate in low power and QRP categories.

From my point of view I have a small antenna system (SteppIR at 50 feet), but I know I have it much better than many others.After every contest in which a relatively large number of "casual" operators are worked, I receive many QSL cards which state the antenna is a "wire antenna in the attic," multiband vertical, or other marginal antenna.

As long as there are communities that regulate antenna height and deeds with restrictive covenants, contesting will continue to have a hard time attracting new blood to replace our aging membership. No one wants to compete in an activity in which they have little chance to do well. Perhaps every contest should have a category for those individuals with restricted space antennas.

73,

Dave, N5DO

_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>