May as well throw my 2 cents into the rules discussion.
I didn't participate in the GQP this year, partly because I had company and
partly because there is no category in which I can participate. I don't do
SSB, especially for contesting (just my personal choice), and no amount of
contest rules is going to 'encourage' me to do so.
Why can't there be separate mode categories? The answer I got was it makes
scoring difficult plus the SECC was trying to 'encourage' multi-mode
operation. Why? If scoring is too difficult with separate mode categories,
ask the members for assistance. I certainly would be willing to help do
that. I personally don't think contest rules should encourage any one mode
and specifically not multi-mode, I think contest rules should encourage
participation, not modes of operation.
Contesting software, as John says, can be a problem. Depending, of course,
on what software you use. The software I use makes it extremely easy to
change contest rules your self before contest. Heck my software did not even
have the GQP covered, so I wrote the simple GQP module myself and
distributed it to others using the software.
What ever changes are made to the rules, I do hope they are re-written so
they are easily understandable by everyone. I think it's really bad practice
to wait until a month before the contest, to start making rule changes. Last
year, because of rule confusion, I worked hard (and enjoyed it) to do well
in the CW category, only to find out 11 months later that there was no high
power CW category for the 04 contest, even though one of the category boxes
in the rules listed that category.
I checked with the clubs in Thomasville, Albany, and Valdosta and none of
those clubs even knew the GQP was being held!
Tommy
W4BQF
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