The CQ WW Committee blog post about audio recording is a bit of surprise to
me. Up until now I had figured audio recording would only be an issue in
Oceania for the serious entrants (i.e. entries with lots of QSOs and/or
hours on the air). In Oceania a casual entry of 1-200 Qs could easily put
you in the top three of just about any single op single band category,
assuming the category even had three entrants (I won the Oceania CW 40m QRP
assisted category and set a new record with one QSO and two points a few
years back). In its post the committee quotes the Asian 160m low power
category. Looking at the 2016 SSB results there were no entrants in that
category (assuming there wasn't an entrant(s) who was moved to a checklog
for not audio recording) so any entry at all would have won it. In Oceania
there was one entrant who made four QSOs.
I would pick most if not all ops who perceive themselves as casual would
not audio record their entry (or even know they had to). Is it really the
Committee's intention to DQ casual entrants who end up in the top three due
to a lack of other entrants, if they do not provide an audio record? If so
then I'd suggest the rules should be amended to make it clear that any
entry competitive or not which ends up in the top three is subject to the
audio recording requirement because casual ops will not consider themselves
competitive. It will of course have the effect of decimating casual single
category entries in this part of world (such as it is) by ops who just
enter for fun but who do not want to run the risk of being besmirched by a
DQ.
A better way (and it seems to me contesting is heading this way in general)
would be for entrants to be able to enter any category they like but
designate themselves as casual or competitive. If casual then they would
not need to provide an audio record but could still be listed in the
results database for their category (assuming they comply with the other
rules). However they would not eligible for a certificate which would go
to the highest competitive entries and who of course would need to provide
an audio record on request. Also only competitive entries would be
eligible to set records and to be listed in the top entrant lists in the
results write up. At least this way an entrant can make a conscious
decision as to how they want their entry to be treated rather than run the
risk of a DQ if they are unlucky enough to enter a category with less than
three other entrants.
73
Mark ZL3AB
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