[CQ-Contest] Penalties??

[Eugene Walsh]

Hello there;
 
I have resisted commenting on one of my favorite subjects, but find
myself weakening.  I figger if it has passed N7BG's threshold
of irritation (He is usually imperturbable) then there isn't much 
time left.
 
I agree with VE4XT (And others) that penalties are good.  I actually 
feel that penalties are the best thing that has happened to competition
since transceivers.  At last, you can be fairly sure that your
competitors have played it straight.  The integrity of the CQWW, in part
because of the "Culture of adjudication", is equalled by none other. 
 
I agree with N7BG that one should eschew whining, play by the rules du 
jour, have a good time and do the best that you can.  Work as many folks 
as you can in as many places possible (People and Places), turn in your 
score card and see how it stacks.  What else??
 
I do not understand N5RP or W2CE, who seem uninterested in competing
but impugn the sanity of those who do compete.  This may actually be 
a valid observation, but not germane to this discussion.  Also, one 
might have a hard time, around here, selling that as the high road.
 
The argument that it is now easy to detect busted calls, so there
should be no penalty, does not wash.  The amount of work in operating
the system is huge.  There are a few people (ie. N6AA, N6TW et al) who
spend a large amount of time on this.  Others, in the past as this was 
being developed (Notably K2SS), spent very large amounts of time and 
effort for years.  The idea of all of this effort is to protect the 
integrity of the contest, not to relieve the responsibility of the 
operator to log correctly.  The strategy is simple!  To forestall 
difficulties, just write down the call sign of the person you are 
talking with - no problem.  If you write down someone elses call sign, 
or a call sign which has not been issued, then it may cost you in the 
scoring.  Now this is really not too much to ask, is it?  Case closed.
 
It is beyond my understanding why anyone would want to return to 
the situation where the one who writes down the largest number of
guesses wins.  Most people don't "CHEAT", they "GUESS"; often working 
the same station 4 or 5 times until he stops calling (ie. until you get 
it right).  Does anyone really want, once again, to compete against that?  
These days if you guess it might cost you more, if you guess wrong, 
than if you left it out.  This is exactly the way it should be and, 
I pray, the way it will stay.  This is, to be sure, A CONTEST!  
A game of skill.
 
With fondness for all who love this thing of ours;
 
73 Gene N2AA


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