...is to create rules that LIMIT activity. This is particularly true for
the smaller RTTY contests. 10 minute rules, overly restrictive operating
time periods, and other rules of this nature ultimately limit activity and
are a guarantee to keep these smaller contests small or non-existent.
They are free to do whatever they want with the rules, but there are too
many RTTY contests to start with and by making rules the limit activity
rather than encourage it, they will guarantee the "also-ran" status of
their contests forever.
What they should be doing is figuring out ways to INCREASE activity,
particularly on bands that are under-utilized. 10 minutes rules are a
guarantee to keep almost all activity on 20, 40, and maybe 15. This
limits overall activity and limits scores. It's also a guarantee that
some operators who have limited time for serious contest efforts will
remain off the air during these events. If you cant get more than 1 or 2
serious, fulltime competitors to operate in your contest, it's going
nowhere fast.
The way to increase activity is to use band multipliers of all sorts and
per-band QSOs, unrestricted operating classes as the core, with more
restrictive classes added within reason, unrestricted operating time
during the contest period, and anything else that will encourage RTTY
operation on ALL bands all the time.
73, Ty K3MM
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