[CQ-Contest] WPX debate

[Trey Garlough]

> CQ Magazine just hit my mailbox with the 97 WPX CW results....
> 
> Tucked away at the very end of the article is the statement:
>
> "Beginning with the 1999 contest, the scoring will be changed to
> allow 1 point for in-country QSO's.  That's 1 point regardless of
> band"

I'm sympathetic to the WB0O's of the world, and this rule will give
the landlocked W's a reason to turn on the radio during WPX.  However,
those people who are concerned about changing the WPX rules in a
USA-centric fashion have just received their worst nightmare.  This is
a rule change that indisputably makes things better for W's at the
expense of the rest of the world.

On the other hand, I'm disappointed to see that the old 30-hour single
op format wasn't restored.  This is the one change that would really
improve the situation for serious single ops all over the far reaches
of the globe, such as folks in VK, OH, ZS (and W6).  Naturally people
in KH6, EA, ZD8 (and W1/W2/W3) are opposed to restoring the old
format, because they are the ones benefiting most from the recent
tweak in the rules that gave us the 36-hour format.

W7EW points out correctly that the 30-hour/5-off-time format was an
integral part of the funkiness of WPX that greatly enhanced it's
appeal with folks like VK5GN.  I note that Martin skipped this year's
running of WPX SSB, formerly his favorite contest, to attend a ham
radio committee meeting.  Ugh.  Perhaps the contest has lost some of
it's appeal to those in the outer reaches.

Despite the protests of the usual DX contest winners, the rule that
forces them off the bands for 12 hours during the contest (18 hours in
five chunks would be and was much better) is a tremendous win for the
little pistols.  It dimishes the big gun curtain of signals
(particularly within the various DX windows) and affords the little
guy more of a fighting chance to work stations another layer down -- a
chance that he might not get in a mega-contest like CQWW.

Having said all that, this is my initial reaction to the new W-W QSO
points rule's affect on competition within the US:

1) This is a big help to stations in zone 4, and a really big help
   to stations in zones 3 and 4 who participate in the 48 hour
   categories.

2) If N6RO & Co. were the folks to beat in M/M before, they are *really*
   the folks to beat now.

3) I'm not so thrilled by the idea of giving 2-points/QSO to W1/W2/W3 
   for working each other on 40/80/160, but hey, it gives people in
   places like North Dakota and the "landlocked states that start with
   the letter I" a reason to live.  :-)

--Trey, N5KO (& HC8N)


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