[CQ-Contest] The GREAT WPX DEBATE & other stuff (very long)

[Robert L. Shohet]

I have been reading with interest the various ideas, challenges, and
opinions put forth with varying degrees of thought from the contest
community.  It would seem that we have several agendas at work:

1) Changes that the contester believes would improve overall WPX
   participation
2) Perceived ways to make the contest more winnable for himself
3) Those who wish to whine about unfairness of propagation, myths of  
   operating, make excuses, etc.

With respect to #3, let's face it, life IS unfair.  Fortunately most of
us have come to this conclusion, accepted it and moved on to (hopefully)
become sucessful at those things that REALLY matter in life,
our personal relationships with our spouse/family, our careers and how
we interact with others.

Having said that, how many hours of runnable EU/JA we have in a contest
and how many hours should be the operating maximum doesn't really matter
that much, does it? 

Someone on this reflector recently said (I am paraphrasing) there was an
absurd ratio of mult's to qso's and that one merely needed push the F1
button to get all the mults.  This reflects a lack of knowledge of how
the winners of these contests actually operate.

First of all, to my knowledge, NO ONE has won a CQWW, ARRL DX or WPX
contest since 1987 WITHOUT using two radios EFFECTIVELY! This means that
MANY multipliers as well as qso's have been worked by use of the second
radio, without with the score would have been MUCH lower.  Pushing the
F1 button is NOT enough to win anymore and if anyone doubts this then
ask the winners of each ARRL DX, CQWW, WPX or SS contest for the past 10
years if they only used one radio and pushed F1 all weekend. The answer
will be a resounding NO!  Those who only push F1, do NOT win.  

Regarding unfair propagation, propagation is always unfair to someone. 
If I was in the midwest I would get irked by NE stations running EU that
I could not hear.  But I wonder if Midwest stations (or West coast)
realize how much rare (for the NE) stuff they routinely work and take
for granted that we on the East Coast can only dream about?  Sure, there
is a lot more EU than AS, but in two years when Texas has better
worldwide propagation than in the NE (on the high bands) I doubt we will
hear how unfair things are (although you may hear NE stations whine
about that).
Likewise, NOTHING holds a candle to 15 meter propagation at the top of
the cycle from Washington.  W7WA ran EU with regularity in the ARRL and
CQWW tests on 15 meters at EU sunrise that I at N2RM (with 16 elements)
could not even hear! In the 1991 ARRLSSB contest not only did he work
1000 EU (after oversleeping part of the EU opening BOTH days) but he
worked 1000 JA's also!  Was any NE station even close to him on 15?  NO
WAY!  What I am saying is that propagation is CYCLICAL, and many of the
have-nots of today will be the haves in two years or less and we in the
NE will find it TOUGH to work as much as we do now.  For those that can
not accept the way the sun works, please don't change how many hours I
can operate in a contest, move or travel to the East Coast or visit the
sunny caribbean and be a mult. for the rest of us!

In the last 3 ARRL DX contests I have worked less than 100 Asian's
TOTAL, how many of you guys in the rest of the US have only worked 100
EU?  I am not happy with this, but hey, no one is stopping me from
moving to California or helping a multi somewhere else.  Complaining
about it is not going to change anything!

Last year at Dayton a very well known W6 (who shall remain nameless) 
told me that the only reason we win contests in the NE was because of
the fact that we all have superstations and can run EU 24 hours a day. 
Obviously, this man has never bothered to operate a station from the NE.
For others who believe this statement to be true you are welcome to
visit my station of wires in CT and compete with the rest of the boys. 
You will discover just how competitive contests can be, how mentally and
physically demanding constant pileups (that you are calling in) are and
how necessary it is to use two radios.  If you can make the top ten then
you have REALLY earned your stripes.  If you can do it with low wires
and non-rotatable antennas then you are truly a master!  The point being
that being in the NE guarantees you nothing.  If I can beat good
operators with multiple stacks who are 200 miles closer to EU than me,
imagine what a really motivated top-notch operator with a great station
and rotatable antennas can do from GA, or Ohio or Texas?  BTW we can NOT
work EU 24 hours a day in the NE!

I KNOW that I can never win SS from CT but I also know that in two
years, half the country will be able to win ARRL DX, CQWW, or WPX.  So
why complain about it?  Isn't it great that some contests are more
winnable from certain regions of the US?  I operate SS because I want to
contact people and have fun, not because I am trying to "win".  I could
care less whether or not there were regional awards.  The great thing
about contesting is that we don't do it for a living and whether we win
or not doesn't make a bit of difference to our wives, girlfriends or
children.
Nor does it make us a better person!  When a contest gets boring we can
simply shut off the radio and do something else.  AWESOME!

Therefore, I don't think that contests should be "monkeyed" with to make
it more "fair" to a particular region of the U.S.  If we "equalize" it
then when the propagation chnages again won't that make it unfair to
some other region of the US?  I think so!  Besides it is awfully
egocentric to think that the WPX contests should be tailored for the US.
As it stands, WPX participation in the US is miniscule compared to EU,
JA and other areas of the world.  Surely they should have more input?

Ok, now for #1.  I have operated the WPXSSB contest for 21 out of the
last 22 years.  IMHO it is the most enjoyable contest of all because you
can work EVERYONE (isn't that what a contest should be about?), many 
stations have a chance to be rare (because of the prefix), the contest
occurs during some of the best propagation of the year and many people
who have missed ARRL get psyched to operate!  Long before I knew what a
competitive station was I was able to work guys that called me ONLY
because I was a new prefix for them.  I would not have been able to work
many of them if I had to wait in their pileup.  I could also work
prefixes for awards.  Furthermore, the same multi that would blow me off
in CQWW would be glad to work me in WPX for my prefix.  Also, there was
less of a din on the bands, the stations operating were not as
cut-throat and there were more frequencies available to CQ on than the
major DX contests.

However, with the 30 hour limitation there were horrible DEAD ZONES of
time when the bands were open and no one was "home".  This SUCKED!  It
was particularly noticeable on Sunday when everyone had to take MANY
hours of off-time.  I remember this really well.  If you were a serious
operator (30 hours) you remember this real well also.  If you were a
part-timer it did NOT affect you very much.  Let me give some
perspective here...  Let's say it is 1999 and propagation is good so you
operate the first 24 hours non-stop (like many others did and will do
next year).  That means that you can ONLY operate 6 out of the next 24
hours.  What happens to the activity level when several thousand
stations have 12 or more hours of off-time to take in the next 24
hours?  The bands get real EMPTY and the rates drop to oblivion.  That
bores the rest of the guys on so they start taking off-time too.  Then
the guys that took off-time come back on, hear very little and decide to
take more off-time, and on it goes.  OR, they come back on, hear little
or no activity, decide that there are better things to do and DON'T COME
BACK TO OPERATE!  Please explain to me how this helps participation?

When the time limit was increased to 36 hours, those "dead zones" went
away.  There was a lot more dx to work, the bands stayed more active and
pepole could explore unusual openings and beam headings becuase now they
could spare the time to be there!  Isn't part of the point of operating
to try to learn and experience different propagation openings and
strategies each contest?  It is for me!  What about for you?  If I had a
30 hour time limit for CQWW would I have heard and worked JH5ZJS and a
VS97 on 10 meter LP at 14z?  Would they even have been on 10 meters?  I
don't think so!  We would have missed a fascinating and exciting band
opening!

Isn't the point of a worldwide contest to work as many people as
possible on as many bands as possible?  How does limiting operating time
improve this?  It does NOT!  It may improve a person's perceived chance
of winning an award or placing higher in the scoring box but it sure
does NOT improve the level of fun that I have.  Personally, I would love
the 36 hour limit to be abolished!  Why should Multi's be allowed to
operate 48 hours and I can only operate 36?  This is not how ARRL or CQ
works.

There have been MANY years that I have been sorely tempted to operate in
the M/S class WITHOUT packet just so I could work more guys in the
contest.  I realize that many contesters don't share my level of
enthusiasm for operating that much or for this particular contest. 
That's ok.  Change the scoring system if you wish but don't bring back
30 hours!  It HURTS worldwide participation, it DEPRESSES activity and
it bores everyone to death on Sunday.  It would reduce my level of
enjoyment in the contest and many others as well.  

If we really want to increase US participation and participation in
general then I suggest the following combination of changes:

1) We change the scoring system so that US works US for 1 pt like EU
Same continent qso's count 2 points and outside the continent count 3.
This will bring up the level of US scores to be more competetive with
the rest of the world and will help the midwest and west coast
"catch-up" with the NE.
2) We establish Low Power categories and awards
3) We move WPXCW to the last weekend in April for better propagation
with 
   less low-band noise (and get it away from Memorial Day Weekend!)  
4) We adopt a point system similar to WAE so that 40 is 2x points, 80
   is 3x points and 160 is 4x points.
5) We allow Single op's to operate with NO time limit just like M/S
   and M/M.
6) I like the grid square point idea also but think that #1 & 4 are much
easier to implement and overall more effective in encouraging 6 band
participation, and 6 band participation is what we are currently
lacking. 

In summary, if we REALLY want to encourage participation then the best
way to do it is by giving the little guy a category to compete in (low
power), make ALL the bands count (like NAQP), encourage EVERYONE to work
everyone else for points (like IARU) and allow the FULL 48 hour time
period to do it in. Since the West coast and Midwest have a GREAT
advantage (over the NE) in working the population centers of the East
Coast and can do it MORE hours than we in the NE can work EU, this
should make things more competitive and interesting for everyone.

IMHO a contest is about what IS possible through determination, strategy
and having fun.  It is NOT about what we can restrict to make it more
winnable for those who are less motivated, less creative and less
flexible.

Two more thoughts...  Many years ago WAE switched from a 36 of 48 hour
format to a 24 of 30.  What a disaster!  I remember sending a letter
(not a very nice one either) to the WAE telling them how awful the
change was and asking them to change back.  This was because they
utterly gutted the ability to work multipliers on the low bands. It
doesn't matter if you live in the NE, trying to work EU in August on 80
is pure HELL!  If you were unfortunate to have a thunderstorm that night
you did not work any and the EU stations did not work you either. 
EVERYONE lost out!

In WPX there are only perceived "losses" by having a time limit of 36
hours vs. 30.  I believe there are just as many stations who believe
they are helped by 36 hours as there are people who believe they would
be helped by 30.  I don't believe either, I just like operating more
hours!

I know that if I were contemplating going on a "prefixpedition" for the
contest, I certainly would not bother for 30 hours, I am not sure if I
would bother for 36 hours, but I would get really psyched to go if I
could operate for up to 48!  There are many others who feel the same
way, they just don't feel as strongly as I do or take the time to write
about it.

Finally, to the station (who shall remain nameless) who said there is
minimal strategy as far as band changing and point scoring goes, PLEASE
come to the Northeast and operate the BIGGEST station possible so you
won't have any excuses when I beat the pants off of you!  You will learn
just how much strategy there is in playing off one band vs another for
points and prefixes as well as when to take off times.  But if you come
in with ANY pre-conceived notions (like many have done in the past) of
when to take off time you will get your head handed to you because the
strategy and off-times change EVERY SINGLE YEAR!

For anyone interested, the main reason that I usually have the highest
mult. in WPXSSB but the second or third highest qso total is that I
understand when to be on 40 for a 50 hour of EU instead of having a 120
hour on 20 to US and JA!  The 120 hour is a LOT more fun but it doesn't
bring home the bacon like the qso's on 40 do.  I daresay that if SS had
a lot more than 79 mults we would see the same pattern there also.

We all have our opinions and I certainly have mine but I strongly
believe that you make things better by allowing the best and most
creative to advance the cause by letting them use their energy and
talent to discover what IS possible and raise the standard for everyone
else.

Arbitrary restrictions hinder growth and creativity and they never
improve anything worthwhile.

11 years ago in ARRL CW I became the first operator to use two radios in
EVERY DX contest.  Two radios and a ton of determination was enough to
allow me to win even with a vastly inferior station.  The advantage of
being in two places at once was huge and even allowed me to overcome the
power of the dreaded "F1 key".  I remember the furor that I created. 
There arose a great cry among the small-minded that NO ONE should be
allowed to operate two radios.  When I won again the next year (with two
radios) the debate raged again.  I asked the question why should anyone
be limited by the inability or unwillingness of others to work harder? 
In 1989 when I won for the third year in a row, the debate stopped and
everyone else began using two radios too.  Now, NO serious SO station
would even consider having a serious chance of winning a major contest
without using two radios.   So what is the next area of score
advancement?  Why it's not using two radios, but using two radios
EFFECTIVELY!  

Maybe we should extend this concept to the removing time limitations in
contests.  Only when we remove limitations do we even begin to find out
what is possible! and after all isn't that what contesting is really
about?

Ain't contesting grand, we can all disagree and STILL have a lot of fun!
Thanks for listening and CU in the pileups!

Bob KQ2M
kq2m at eci.com



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