100W vs 150W for Low Power has been under discussion at ARRL for a long
time. I agree that it affects comparisons with previous scores, records,
etc., but I don't have a lot of concern about that. It doesn't seem to make
a whole lot of sense from a contesting perspective to make an exception for
FD, but ARRL says FD isn't a contest.
I think the idea is that the vast majority of modern transceivers max out at
100W (or a little less), and it requires a more expensive rig or an amp to
achieve 150W. That means you have to spend considerably more money to be
competitive in the Low Power category. Also, some amps may not perform
properly (cleanly?) at such a low gain level. I guess there could be a
concern that there would be too much temptation to goose the power a little
higher to complete a tough contact. It seems like a sensible change to me.
I'm thinking the exception for FD is to reduce the level of frustration when
operating with low wire antennas from less than ideal locations, and ARRL
wants FD to be a happy, non-competitive event. That said, I doubt many low
power teams operating on emergency power use amps because they require more
gas for the generators.
As for messing up comparisons with previous scores and records, that's
always possible when rules are modified. But if that consideration prevents
modification of contest rules, then we can never improve contests. Similar
things happen with DXCC, Honor Roll, #1 Honor Roll, etc. You can't compare
apples to apples when the list of official entities keeps changing, which it
must. And can we really compare Tom Brady with Joe Montana or Otto Graham?
The numbers say yes, but the rules and game were totally different in their
respective eras.
I take contest records with a grain of salt. It's even hard to compare one's
own performance from year to year because conditions and participation are
never the same. Rough comparisons may be helpful to see if your performance
is improving, but a more useful way to do that is to compare your rank with
the same set of competitors over a period of many years and multiple sunspot
cycles if possible. I have spreadsheets for CQ WW CW and CQ WPX CW going
back over 20 years that compare my score, rank, QSOs and mults on each band,
etc., with the winner of the contest. The spreadsheet also records the
antennas I used and solar/geomagnetic activity for the contest weekend each
year.
73, Dick WC1M
-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Sawyer <EdwardS@advanced-conversion.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2021 7:01 AM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Low Power Change to ARRL Contests
I saw today that this change was announced in the ARRL Contests starting in
Jan 1. The Low Power Category will be changed from 150W output to 100W
output. On a contest to contest basis, this has no significant impact.
However, on previous scores it does. For any of you who have ever seriously
competed using Low Power, 50W matters on 80 and 160M, especially on SSB
contests.
I found it surprising that an exception was made for Field Day???? Really???
Why Field Day? Isn't everyone using primarily mobile HF rigs for Field Day
anyway and none put out more than 100W? And since "its not a contest" why
is making that exception so important. The never ending head scratching
over the ARRL and Field Day......
This will make records harder to beat in this category going forward.
Ed N1UR
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