And in conclusion

[Hans Brakob K0HB]

The last three weeks of discussion and debate (and yes, sometimes smoke and flame) on 
the subject of "part time contesting" have been a great learning experience for me.  At 
times I probably didn't "keep my cool" too well, and I hereby sincerely apologize to 
anyone whose toes I bruised.  Interestingly, the best ideas seemed to come in just the 
last couple of days, or maybe I just needed to hear them enough times for them to sink 
in.

After filtering through the collection, sometimes discounting the surface emotion to find 
the message underneath, here are my conclusions.

I think everyone agrees that the initial proposal of a shortened contest is a BAD idea.

A "24-hour" category within the larger 48-hour format is a CONTROVERSIAL (maybe bad, 
maybe good) idea which needs much more examination, and possible implementation 
should be on a controlled trial basis.

There were some genuinely GOOD ideas (and I'll miss some here):

--Participation trinkets such as Pins/Mugs (funded by recipient).
--Privately sponsored "side bet" contests for best "24-hour" effort.
--DXCC inside the contest, (WAS for DX?), Worked 30 Zones inside the contest,
and similar achievements.  K1CC made some other especially good suggestions
in this regard.

Also, I thoght Richs' comments of "Achievement Vs. Competition" were 
especially insightful.  Is there a psychologist in the house?  Perhaps this is the
vehicle which brings more sustained participation from casual players.

Thanks folks, for the education.

de Hans K0HB

PS:  My quad will beat your beam everytime, and Texans have an unfair
advantage in the XE2 groundwave contest.