At 10:26 AM 7/24/06, Bill Turner wrote:
>Phil has pointed out the most important thing in the whole discussion.
>
>If and when all contest newbies realizes they can not be competitive
>without a second radio, the death of contesting is not far behind.
>
>Ok, it won't die completely, but it will become an exclusive club of
>hardware-obsessed operators who can and will crush anyone with a more
>modest station. Very few newbies are going to be interested once they
>realize the truth.
Won't the same thing happen (or has happened) when newbies realize
some of the other "truths" about contesting?
The current instance of the SO1R vs. SO2R debate was kicked off by
noting that the NAQP high claimed scores from 3830 showed 8 of the
top 10 (and 12 of the top 25) scores came from SO2R stations. Not
all that surprising, as in an open competition one should expect the
most efficient combinations of location, equipment, antenna and
operating technique to be reflected in higher scores.
On the other hand, nothing at all has been made of the observation
that 9 of the top ten (and 15 of the top 25) high claimed scores in
NAQP are from stations located outside the Eastern time zone. Nothing
surprising about that "truth" either. NAQP is a domestic contest and
in a domestic contest stations from the heartland are expected to
dominate in the overall results; we'd all expect the situation to be
reversed in a "DX" contest.
So, where is the place in contesting for those, especially the
hardware-obsessed operators, who want to seriously compete without
having to pull up stakes and move?
>I want fun for all, not just a few.
Must fun be synonymous with winning? And if so, winning what?
The goals of increasing participation and participant enjoyment would
seem better served by adding performance level awards rather than
adding more categories. And by more extensive score reporting so
individuals are able to rank their performance against what they
consider to be comparable competition.
73,
Mike K1MK
Michael Keane K1MK
k1mk@alum.mit.edu
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