I was just wondering if the sponsors of the NAQP would consider adding a
Limited Antenna category like both the ARRL and CQ contests have? The
top scores in both SO-Unassisted and SO-Assisted categories are always
the same people who have large stations with big antennas. Many have
touted the NAQP's as having a level the playing field because everyone
(except the QRP guys) are running 100 watts. That's not really the case
because you really have to look at ERP not output power. Someone running
100 watts and yagis isn't equal to someone running 100 watts and a dipole.
I bet there would be a lot of entries in a limited antenna category.
Many more than the QRP category which NAQP has. The looked at the last
NAQP CW published results. That was August 2024. There were 850 entries
in that contest. I counted only 55 QRP entries. That comes out to only
6% on the submitted scores. I didn't check the SSB results but I bet it
was even lower since the QRP guys tend to prefer CW. Personally, being
stuck with limited antennas I would like my score compared to someone
who has a station similar to mine.
Maybe make the rules similar to the ARRL overlay :
Limited Antennas Overlay – Operation is limited to the use of
single-element antennas such as a single vertical, end-fed wire, or a
single dipole antenna no more than 50 feet above ground at its highest
point. The antenna(s) may cover multiple bands, as in the case of
multiband verticals and dipoles with fan or trap constructions.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this ?
Jeff
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