In the last decade I've operated this contest 6 or 7 times and in the process
I've set the Minnesota section record several times. I mention that to
establish that these were very serious efforts on my part. In total, I've made
almost 5200 QSO's in that time. Of those 5200 QSO's I've had Europeans answer
my CQ three times...YU1LA, SV3RF, and DF2PY. That's .056%. How many answers
from Europeans do you think I would have gotten if I lived in New Hampshire or
Georgia or Texas? That's the problem with the ARRL contest scoring. A limited
section of the country has access to a large pool of QSO's and multipliers that
we can't reach. And to really rub your face in it, they award 5 points for
those DX QSO's as well.
I did discuss this issue with my ARRL section Director. He tried to get this on
the table for discussion at the CAC but met serious entrenched resistance to
the idea.
Once again, the only rational way to look at contest results is to compare you
score to others in your local area and nowhere else.
73 Steve K0SR
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160 meters is a serious band, it should be treated with respect. - TF4M
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