[CQ-Contest] KL7RA needs advice

[Bob Wruble]

My 40+ years as a contester has proven to me that there is no such
thing as a "level" playing field in AR contesting with or without station
spotting tools or for a whole lot of other reasons to boot!
.
Once you come to grips with this reality you can settle down and
mebbe have some fun!   (I cud bore u with a long list of things that
make/keep the field far from level but won't becuz they are old news and
will never change!)

In my mind we are damm lucky contesting has survived as well as it has given
the lure of the internet and all the other quick gratification activities
and
hobbies now available that do not require a license or even 5wpm code
proficiency!  In my humble opinion the whole hobby is in trouble given
the aging of our current amateur population and the lack of newbies
coming in to the hobby or sticking when they do.

I personally would just as soon see the spotting/assisted category go away
but don't mind too much since it is usually (but not always) a separate
entry
class.   Using spotting tools for the single op class is another testimony
to
instant gratification and general laziness that seems to have a grip on our
society in general AND its to much like shooting ducks in a barrel or going
to
a fish farm to fish in a stocked pond for my tastes!

At any rate,  I hope that Ed does not get discouraged and give up, rather he
try to have fun within his stations means and capability.   Hell I cud argue
that
his "big grin" station in MD will kick the butt of my relatively large
station in
OR most any day of the week!   So much for leveling the playing field......
it
just ain't gonna happen.

Hang in there, Ed  de Bob, W7GG--Ai7b--WW7OR

----- Original Message -----
From: "kl7ra" <kl7ra at blizzard.gcgo.nasa.gov>
To: "contest reflector" <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Cc: "ed" <weh at ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 2:40 PM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] KL7RA needs advice


 >
 > Yo Contesters -   5901,  qrz,  freq's in use, again again....
 >
 > A few years ago a co-worker came out to the contest station
 > to see what HAM radio was all about. I told him it was a great
 > hobby where you get to buy stuff forever and then can tell other
 > hams what you bought. Also mentioned CONTESTING.....
 >
 > Today Ed is N3HXQ and operated the WPX Phone contest as
 > S/O from his very own station in Maryland (Big Grin).
 >
 > This morning I received this email from him and frankly I have no
 > answer.  What would you say to a "new" guy in the hobby with
 > this question?
 >
 > 73 Rich  KL7RA
 >
 >  >Hi Rich,
 >  >
 >  >It has been bothering me a little bit that the rules seem to be stacked
 >  >against unassisted operation. My impression is that an assisted op can
 >  >probably beat an unassisted op (the assisted op has more information
 >  >right? when things get slow he can always just do some high yield
 >  >multiplier hunting from spots). The problem seems to me to be that there
 >  >is no incentive in the rules to be unassisted except personal
 >  >satisfaction. You can't (generally speaking) tell if some one has
 >  >cheated (but some seem to). Since you can get a higher score as
 >  >assisted, the unassisted category is likely to whither away. If club
 >  >contest results just add single op assisted and unassisted together
 >  >unweighted, the incentive for club support is to go for the maximum
 >  >score: assisted. It seems like people would have less and less incentive
 >  >to be unassisted if they have to compete against cheaters in that
 >  >category. Why not go to assisted and at least have a level playing
 >  >field? Maybe this just a sign of the times and I should give up on
 >  >unassisted operation, but I think it is fun. Is this something worth
 >  >worrying about and if so, is there some way to fix the rules to make
 >  >unassisted operation more viable? The current situation seems unstable
 >  >and will lead to unassisted going away.
 >  >
 >  >Ed
 >  >
 >
 >
 > --
 > CQ-Contest on WWW:        http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
 > Administrative requests:  cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com
 >
 >


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