[3830] Only working your own society's station and nobody elses

[Jim White, K4OJ]

The more I hear this idea the more intrigued of it I become... my 
initial thinking was negative based on prior operating experiences form 
a HQ station... the thrill I had of being able to run run run since we 
were essentially DX (a multiplier) was to some extent fueled by those 
same county QSOs. This is kind of like the argument put forth by N6AA a 
few years back about unique QSOs made with buddies and then the switch 
being thrown to off.

I know the impact to W1AW/# operations would be great - but - if there 
are guys who are being coerced into getting on to only work their 
national society's station in an effort to run up QSO totals perhaps 
this should be a concern to all.

I know that when the Florida Contest Group ran W1AW/4 we had a lot of W 
contacts...they are not worth a lot, no - but on a band like 20 SSB they 
do add up!  There is no way a country the size of the USA can hope to 
compete with the European efforts due to the fact that the countries in 
Europe are smaller and closer so they are "DX" - similar QSOs distance 
wise here are just another "domestic" call area and of low point value.

For the USA operations of W1AW/# the location of the station plays 
largely into how much dependence there is on Domestic QSOs - obviously 
as in any DX competition the Northeast USA will have a decided advantage 
on the low bands to Europe, here in the Southern USA we have a "domestic 
advantage" on the higher bands due to North South propagation to the 
major population centers.

Like any rule change this has the potential to change the history of 
previous records and as always I am not keen on that...

I would be interested to know how "bad" this has gotten on the other 
side of the pond... needless to say, if country X hams only work Society 
X club station and country X has more hams than country Y then this 
would help "level" things ( I hate that expression ) for ham radio 
active countries in Europe who are actively pursue these competitions.

A national society like Monaco could probably get 12 band modes worth of 
QSOs... but certainly could not work as many stations in its own country 
as say Germany or Nederlands...

Is this bad, or only bad if you are a ham in a smaller country?

Good topic...

Jim, K4OJ



Robert Bajuk wrote:
> IMO.. It would be nice to have LP category like in many other contests. I
> agree fully with Rob, too. To work only your own HQ and nobody else is
> ridiculous, but is happening, particularly in bigger countries. In this case
> it would be equal for all the participants.
> 
> Robert, S57AW
> 
> 
>>Change the rule that participants can't work their own HQ station, in
>>that case many US and DL stations will have to work other stations to
>>get a high score instead of working only their own HQ station 12 times
>>and than go QRT. Also the HQ competition will be more equal so more HQ
>>stations will participate and it that way you also generate more
>>participants.
>>
>>Rob Snieder pa5et at muurkrant.com @ PA6HQ "VERON HQ STATION"
>>
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>     The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
> THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS!
>        http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 3830 mailing list
> 3830 at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
>