[CQ-Contest] Zero-point QSO's in CQWW

[Norton, Richard]

From: Lee Hiers, AA4GA [mailto:aa4ga at contesting.com]

> But zero-point QSOs do not give the running-station any incentive to
> actually log the QSO.  If it is a multiplier for the calling station
> but just another zero-point QSO for the runner and the runner
> chooses not to log the QSO why is it good policy for the caller to be 
> penalized and not the runner?

> What incentive does the runner have to log zero-point QSOs?

AA4GA's point does have some validity, but there is no easy solution.

1) If you allow credit for same-country contacts, it will change the nature
of the contest away from being a DX contest.

2) If you forbid same-country contacts altogether, you make it impossible
for entrants in zones like 6, and 12 to ever work 40 zones, and 18 and 19 to
ever work 39 zones.

Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of contesters understand the game.
They log same-country contacts.

Last year there were a tiny handful of operators who didn't. They were
castigated on this reflector. In most cases it was one individual operating
at a multi-op station. I found the multi-station owners and other operators
to be embarrassed about what happened, and I suspect any problem will go
away.

My experience shows that same-country contacts are generally made when bands
are slow. No one should call a same-country station when he has DX answering
his CQ's. The contacts are often welcomed as signs there is propagation
somewhere. At worst, they are a tax you pay for CQ'ing on a frequency.

You can minimize the probability of loosing a same-country multiplier by not
necessarily calling the loudest MM station you hear. You can get the
multiplier by calling CQ yourself. Note that if you work two stations, your
chances of loosing a multiplier become microscopic.

In my unofficial opinion, the contest has a number of inequities in it which
are much more deserving of attention than same-country contacts. I don't
think zero-point QSO's need fixing.

73,

Dick N6AA/VK5


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