When I was throwing out ideas on improving QSO totals and activity
level, I floated three ideas - all of which involved granting a second
QSO. I've re-thought the high band v. low band split and now believe
that it may not solve the matter in that a large number of hams cannot
realistically work other hams within their skip zone. For hams in the
northeast and north central (SMC land), that means a significant penalty.
I'd still be inclined to allow for two QSOs on any two bands. 80 and
20, 80 and 40, 20 and 15. In order to ensure a "democratized"
landscape, I'd want to make sure that hams couldn't simply "move" every
contact to the second band. I'd require at least a 10 minute gap
between QSOs on different bands.
The other option is to allow a second QSO, but in the second half of the
contest - one in the first 15 hours and one in the second 15 hours.
That may affect off time strategy, but I doubt by a lot.
73 Rich NN3W
On 11/7/2017 10:51 AM, Kelly Taylor wrote:
I like the idea of two QSOs split by time, as it means stations with the big low-band
antennas aren’t necessarily going to run up the rate meter all over again.
If you split it by high-band vs. low-band, you might not actually solve the
Sunday doldrums problem, as the big stations might just work through all their
second QSOs Saturday night anyway.
As well, making the split high-band vs. low-band will hand the contest to the stations with
the big low-band antennas. The way SS works now, big low-band antennas aren’t a huge
advantage because they primarily provide access to stations already worked on the high bands.
The bigger low-band antennas in some way are a disadvantage, because the one-Q per station
rule means they are more often working just the closer stations they couldn’t get on
the high bands, just like stations with smaller low-band antennas (low inverted vees, etc.).
A way to solve Sunday doldrums without costing SS its democratization would be
perfect.
I think splitting it by time solves the doldrums plus gives equal advantage to
small and big stations.
73, kelly, ve4xt
On Nov 7, 2017, at 8:41 AM, RT Clay <rt_clay@bellsouth.net> wrote:
Allowing two qsos seems like the best idea to me so far. If one contact had to
be on the high bands (20/15/10) and one on the low bands (40/80/160) it would
be a little fairer to different geographic areas and still not require everyone
to have a 6-band station to do well. To give incentive for people to operate
longer, make each qso 1 point (less than it is now), and an extra 1 bonus point
if you get both qsos with a station. Leave multipliers unchanged.
I am not sure if time restrictions (first half/second half/etc) are needed, one
qso on high versus low bands will usually spread the two contacts out in time
anyway due to propagation differences. Specific time restrictions also won't be
liked by part-timers who can only operate Saturday or Sunday. If any changes
are made to the rules they need to be simple to understand.
Tor
N4OGW
--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 11/6/17, Eric Gruff <egruff@cox.net> wrote:
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] So Sunday Sucked?
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Date: Monday, November 6, 2017, 10:13 PM
I don't normally get into these rule change
discussions, because there are N
+ 10 opinions for every N hams, but it
dawned on me that one or more of the
following are fairly easy to implement,
might stir more activity on Sunday
afternoon/evening, and won't alter the
contest enough to "hurt it" in the
eyes of most purists:
1. Split the time in half (15 + 15
hours, or the first 24 and last 6 hours),
and allow one QSO with each station in
each segment. In other words,
everyone can work each station twice in
the contest, but you have to stick
around to get the 2nd QSO. It might
also help keep some of the rare mults on
the air for long enough that we can all
find them. I suppose we could count
each multiplier once per half, thus
giving folks incentive to try for a
double sweep, but that's probably
overkill. Dupe checking is going to be a
bit more challenging, but pretty much
everyone uses software that should be
able to easily tell us if we can
re-work a station in the 2nd segment.
1a. Corollary to above - only allow the
2nd contact on a different band than
previously worked. A bit more
challenging, because you can't move someone
after a QSO, but have to wait until the
next segment of the contest to work
them on the 2nd band.
2. Give a QSO multiplier (1.5x ?) for
contacts made in the last six or eight
hours of the contest period.
Obviously, high scores will change for
the first two scenarios, but at least
folks will be incentivized to stick
around at the end of the contest. I
don't think either option will stop
folks from participating at the
beginning for a lot of reasons, and
will make the strategy of choosing the
24 of 30 hours to operate a bit more
challenging. IMO, the last six hours
are one of the few advantages for us
West Coast operators - we don't have to
stay up until 10 PM (or later for folks
in Atlantic Time) on a Sunday night
to finish the contest.
NC6K
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