[CQ-Contest] Why I Won't Be in CQWW CW This Year

[John Laney]

Hi Pete and all:  The reason that we can't switch most years is that the
ARRL 160 meter contest falls on the first full weekend in December and
the ARRL 10 meter contest falls on the second full weekend in December. 
I believe the reason that there is an extra weekend in between the CQ WW
CW and ARRL 160 tests this year is that Friday is November 30 and the
ARRL 160 M contest starts late on Friday UTC and therefore it is only
when the first day of December is a Saturday that an extra weekend in
December falls in there. 

Good news is that next year the last full weekend in November is the
week after Thanksgiving weekend, so there is no need to change for next
year.  This only happens once in a long while.  I recall it happened in
1985 when I made my last trip to Haiti for CQ WW CW (as 4V2C).  Probably
happened once in the 1990s.  Next year's calendar will have Thanksgiving
on November 28 and the CQ WW CW contest on November 23 and 24.  That
will be the last full weekend in November.  The next weekend, November
30 and December 1 will not have any major contests, since they never
(almost never?) split months.

My suggestion is that ARRL consider moving ARRL 160 and ARRL 10 one week
later, let CQ move CQ WW CW to the first full weekend in December.  That
would put the ARRL 10 on the same weekend as the new (but pretty
popular) Croatian DX (9A) Contest (I think).  But maybe they would like
to have the third weekend in November instead.  Conditions should
generally be better for them in November than in December and they don't
have a national holiday to interfere with (I assume that).  The possible
downside is that conditions for ARRL 160 and ARRL 10 would be one week
further removed from the Equinox and therefore possibly one week worse.  

So, if we are to have some relief from the Thanksgiving holiday problem
you mention, it would probably require work a long time in advance and
cooperation from ARRL, CQ, and the 9A contest sponsors.

The last weekend in November has a long tradition for CQWW CW, but it
means that I miss Thanksgiving with the family and wedding anniversary
(Nov 23) with my wife nearly every year.  Fortunately, my children are
both still local to us even though out on their own.

We married on Saturday of the CQWW CW contest in 1974.  I had already
been a ham 20 years and it was my favorite contest.  Weesie (short for
Louise) and I had dated for 2 1/2 years and she knew that ham radio was
important to me and that I went to the Caribbean for CQ WW CW nearly
every year.  But, she wanted to get married on a fall weekend when the
local football teams (Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, and Georgia Tech) didn't
have home games.  So she chose Nov. 23 and I agreed.  I got to operate
only Friday night of that contest.  Saturday was taken up with
pre-wedding breakfast, lunch, etc., and we got married in the
afternoon.  We got to Jamaica for our honeymoon while the contest was
still running.  I had the phone number in Montego Bay (where the plane
landed) where my friends N4TO and W4QM and others were operating 6Y5BF,
but I had the good sense to leave it in my pocket and try to leave ham
radio behind for that one week.  Unfortunately, we both got sick with
the flu, rains nearly washed the north coast (the roads at least) of
Jamaica away and the honeymoon was pretty terrible, but that is another
story.

So Pete, your solution won't work (except for this year and it's too
late for that).  But, mine might work over the long haul, so why not
contact N1ND, K3EST, and the 9A sponsors and see if it might actually be
adopted.  Next year isn't a problem, so two years out would give plenty
of time for planning and publicity.

73,

John, K4BAI/8P9HT.


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