[CQ-Contest] 2003 CQ 160 Change Coming

[Pat Collins]

>>"Starting with 2003 the CQ 160 Contests will be changed to
>>48-hour contests to conform with most other worldwide contests.  The
>>starting time will be 0000Z on Saturday and the ending time 2359Z on
>>Sunday.  

>The proposal laid out by W4ZV means that the contest doesn't start for us
>on the east coast until 2 hours after sunset (8 hours for Europeans) and
>it means that we now have to operate single band contest 3 nights instead
>of just two.  The Europeans would operate 1/2 night on Saturday morning,
>Full night Saturday night, and 1/2 night on Sunday.  

>Am I the only one that thinks this is a really stupid idea?

>This is smarter: 
>---------------- 
>The contest starts 1 hour before local sunset on Friday and ends 1 hour
>after local sunrise on Sunday.  The contest starts for everyone when the
>band is open and ends when the band is closed.

I agree, your idea fixes part of the problem.  The other problem is the
definition of DX on 160.  Why does W1BB get 10 points for working across the
pond when W4EF only gets 2 points for working W1BB?  Seems to me that both
have worked DX, a station outside their local sphere of influence.  The TBDC
is the only one that gets it right, now if they will fix the QRP/low
power/high power multiplier stupidity we would have the best 160 contest.  

Pat N8VW



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