Whinus occidentus

[00pmbarkey at leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu]

Rich,

I don't know what you think "whining" is.  I'll tell you what I think
it is.  Its people who stand on the sideline and complain.  People who
would complain whatever the situation are whiners.

The people who are discussing increased recognition of regional activity
are not "whiners."  Some of these people have poured their lives into
building contest stations and operating major contests, only to see
themselves beaten by a pack of stations that have better propagation.
Year after year.  That's just the way it is, and you're right about
that.

But some of these people are getting frustrated and are not running
contests anymore.

Take a look at the zone 3 single op scores in the CQWW.  Look at the
number of zone 4 multi-multi's.  Whatever happened to N9MM, K8LX or
K9HMB?

How many years in a row would YOU put the time into running a very serious
M/M, only to finish fifth or sixth, and never even get mentioned or
recognized anywhere in the writeup?

Or look at it another way -- there are about five times as many people
living in the state of Indiana than live in the state of New Hampshire.
However, I'd guess that there are anywhere from three to four times
as many serious SOAB efforts from NH.

This is the way it is -- but not the way it has to be.  Recognizing the
need for adequate reporting of regional competition won't move Europe
closer to W9 or get more JA's on the air.  But it will keep more zone
4 and zone 3 guys from just packing it in, and that's what this discussion
is all about.

   -- Pat
      WA8YVR

>From alan at dsd.es.com (Alan Brubaker)  Mon Jan  3 14:43:35 1994
From: alan at dsd.es.com (Alan Brubaker) (Alan Brubaker)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 94 07:43:35 MST
Subject: SprINT
Message-ID: <9401031443.AA12645 at dsd.ES.COM>


K6XO  2 hours, 131 QSOs.

Things were going just fine, thank you, until about 2340 when 20 just
suddenly seemed to take a dive. I could hardly find anyone to work who
could hear me except for a few stations. No one on 40 yet. Struggle.
Finally work 'TR and 'TV on 40 at 0011. Back to 20 and struggle some
more. Finally back to 40 at 0026 and the rate really picked up again.
My name only lasted 20 minutes - makes you wonder where it went. Maybe
someone thought that it was vulgar and inappropriate .... .. Hurl?
or is it Surl? Surl made it to the end. Worked 3 Jocks in a row. K1ZZ
was sending Dave every QSO. My vote for the biggest most consistent
signal goes to VE4VV - sounded like a KW and a stack out here - head
and shoulders above anyone else in the contest. Just got a new FT1000
and am trying to figure out all of the buttons, knobs, bells and 
whistles, but I will do it.

Alan, K6XO

>From Ed Gilbert <eyg at hpnjlc.njd.hp.com>  Mon Jan  3 14:40:39 1994
From: Ed Gilbert <eyg at hpnjlc.njd.hp.com> (Ed Gilbert)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 09:40:39 -0500
Subject: Internet Sprint
Message-ID: <9401031444.AA17884 at hp.com>

Result: 86 qsos in 77 minutes of operating.  Had to quit at 0017z.
The neighbor told my wife that I was "sending static into my TV".
Another weekend project...  

This is the second time that I started with my full name (Edgar)
and never heard it again.  Heard lots of Eds, guess it got
shortened.

73, Ed WA2SRQ

>From David C. Patton" <mudcp3 at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu  Mon Jan  3 15:29:53 1994
From: David C. Patton" <mudcp3 at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (David C. Patton)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 09:29:53 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Whining moratoria
Message-ID: <199401031529.AA13402 at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu>

Rich, K2WR says the geographic bias whining is VERY (x 3) boring.
Actually, what I find VERY boring is seeing the top ten lists from
most major contests that consist of nothing but W1s 2s and 3s.  

I think most of us know there are geographic advantages/disadvantages
in contesting, and we ACCEPT this.  It seems that K2WR and WB2EKK
have missed the point of the whining:  Stupidity in contest rules,
and contest reporting that highlight east coast achievements tend to
ENFORCE the idea of East Coast dominance.  For instance:

Why does CQ continue to reward 10 points for inter-continental QSOs
in the 160 M contest?  Is this an acceptable geographic bias, or is
this just stupidity written into the contest rules?

Why does CQWW still give 2 points for inter-North American QSOs, but
only one point for the rest of the continents?  This rule was
designed to stimulate more activity from the Caribbean, but is it
still necessary?  Is this an acceptable geographic bias, or is this
an outmoded rule that should either be removed or expanded?  Maybe if
Asians got two points for their Asian QSOs we could stimulate lots of
activity from Asia.  Last I knew there were bunches of multipliers in
Asia that might be activated by JA contesters much the same way US
contesters flock to the Caribbean.  

Why does CQWW only list the top 6 in multi-single and multi-multi?
Six slots is usually about what it takes to recognize the serious
east coast entrants.  Geographic bias or reporting bias?

I can go on, but it is moot.  Until East Coast guys start to push for
changes, nothing will happen.  We in the West have been "whining" for
years and nothing has happened.  

You want to hear us stop whining, help us correct the stupidity in
the ways contests are run and reported.  Top ten lists by zone will
go a long way towards correcting this problem. Not just top ten
lists, but band by band breakdowns for each area.  I think the most
interesting/useful part of the CQWW report is the band-by-band table.
 Except it doesn't do us much good for comparison when there are no
geographically similar numbers.  

People do not complain for no reason.  "Whining" is a serious
indicator of problems--analagous to the sensation of pain in living
creatures; it is telling you to stop or change what you are doing
before you permanently damage something.  If we are still "whining"
there must still be time to change the system.  Otherwise we're just
going to stop whining, stop operating, stop subscribing, and stop
improving ourselves.  I join KM9P in the boycott of the CQ 160
contests--"contests that resemble apartheid."  

If anybody wants to whine, I say continue to whine.  Whining will
continue to provide fodder for humorous messages from W3 which in
effect recognize that there is a problem.

73, Dave Patton, WX3N/9

>From Ed Gilbert <eyg at hpnjlc.njd.hp.com>  Mon Jan  3 16:33:08 1994
From: Ed Gilbert <eyg at hpnjlc.njd.hp.com> (Ed Gilbert)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 11:33:08 -0500
Subject: SprINT
Message-ID: <9401031636.AA21355 at hp.com>

K6XO wrote:
> My vote for the biggest most consistent
> signal goes to VE4VV - sounded like a KW and a stack out here - head
> and shoulders above anyone else in the contest.

I can make a similar comment for W6AQ, who had everyone else by 10dB
on 20, and by half an S-unit on 40.  VE4VV was only average here.

-- Ed, WA2SRQ

>From Steve Merchant <merchant at crl.com>  Mon Jan  3 16:40:16 1994
From: Steve Merchant <merchant at crl.com> (Steve Merchant)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 08:40:16 -0800 (PST)
Subject: N4TQO SprINT
Message-ID: <Pine.3.87.9401030816.A13792-0100000 at crl.crl.com>

92 Q's -- W6OTC's tribander didn't work any better on 40 this time than 
last.  Many variations on Hurl, on OO7 (007, OO7e), and K(T)ris.  
Contrary to K2MM's observation, I didn't think participation was as high 
as the previous SprINT -- it'll be interesting to see what the numbers say.  
Great fun -- see you in NAQP.