[CQ-Contest] Consider This

Tue Apr 23 11:48:43 EDT 2002

In the world of computers the ubiquitous use of "TLA's" has
been dominating the ideology of descriptive language for
many years.  Of course, "TLA's" stands for "three letter
abbreviations".  The theory goes like this: if something isn't
important enough to be abbreviated until only the people to
which it is important can understand it, then it's insignificant.

Having personally pioneered the use of two transceivers at
W6HX over 30 years ago (no, I don't pretend to have been
the first contester to do this, only that I wandered into the
frontier unassisted), I knew when the TLA "SO2R" came
into widespread use that numerous competitors who had
previously considered the practice insignificant would
henceforth and forever after see "SO2R" as being somehow
fundamentally different from single transceiver operation.

Oh, yes, I realize that "SO2R" isn't 3 letters, it's 3 letters and
a number.  Right.  Sure, I'll be getting flamed on the list for
that.  But many "TLA's" aren't really three letters.  Consider
"MM" for "multi-operator, multi-transmitter",  "MOST" or
"MS" for "multi-operator, single transmitter", and "M2" for
"multi-operator two transmitter".  Those are categories, aren't
they?

It's funny that the more important issues in the competitive
position that contesters can attain aren't given the important
attention that they deserve.  Oh, sure, one contest now has
a tribander and dipoles category that you can actually enter,
and there is even a category for inexperienced operators
somewhere in the immense structure for contests.  But these
divisions in the contest world can never separate us quite
adequately until we have "TLA's" for each of them.  I'm
sure that everyone will agree that we need some additional
"TLA's" to describe every facet of top notch competition
that separates us from reaching the top rungs of the contest.
Both the "good" and the "bad" issues require "TLA's".

For instance:

W5WMU's station has numerous towers.  While most of
the operators in the November SS have dipoles on 40 and
80 meters, they often don't realize that a station like
W5WMU can have upwards of 6 full sized 40 meter beams
of 3 elements or greater - two stacked 3 elements pointed
at the Eastern seaboard, two pointed at the mid-west, and
two pointed at California.  And, with one of the world's top
CW operators (N6TR) running SO2R you'd think a station
like that would always come out on top.

But NO!

WP3R always comes out on top.  We need a "TLA" and a
separate entry category for WP3R.  I'm going to suggest
"WP3R".

Here are a few more suggestions, and I hope I'm not the
only guy on the reflector who has ideas on this matter:

PN - Pencil Nightmare - enters every contest without
     computer logging
PPC - Pirate's his Packet Callsign - Why do guys log
     onto the internet/packet spotting nets with an inactive
     operator's call during contests instead of their own?
TBD - Tri-Bander and Dipole?  No! Tower Blew Down!
SSF - Single Sideband Filter only, no narrow CW filter
OF2R - Occupies run Frequency silently while chasing
     multipliers on the second station - this can be a single
     operator or a multi-operator multi-transmitter habit
HC - Happy Camper - MM station who, at 0000z, starts
     calling "CQ contest" on 21,251 USB with 4 stacked
     7 element yagis pointing at Europe and remains there
     continuously for the next 48 hours.  Implies OF2R.
TMC - Too Many Computers - No, these are the
     neighbor's computers and television sets that put out
     terrible RF radiation on all bands

----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Thompson, K5ZD" <k5zd at charter.net>
To: "Richard Zalewski" <w7zr at citlink.net>; "cq-contest"
<cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 18:20
Subject: RE: [CQ-Contest] Consider This

> I suspect if NV4X was SO1R he would have *only* had about 2800 x 950 for
> 7.0M...
>
> More variables here than you can see in the score listings.
>
> Randy, K5ZD
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cq-contest-admin at contesting.com
> > [mailto:cq-contest-admin at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Richard Zalewski
> > Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 17:38 PM
> > To: cq-contest
> > Subject: [CQ-Contest] Consider This
> >
> >
> > How about considering this regarding SO2R as a separate class.
> >
> > Most recent WPX SSB
> >
> > SO AB (A) HP
> >
> > NV4X    2880 Q  960 PFX  33 HRS  7.58M
> > WZ7ZR 1836 Q  749 PFX  32 HRS  2.78M
> >
> > Not to take a thing away from K4MA as the operator at NV4X or the
> > fact that
> > he is East Coast but come on....you can't keep telling me that
> > SO2R is not a
> > separate classification.
> >
> > I sure would like to see more analysis of this type where SO2R in
> > a current
> > class is compared to SO1R in the same class.  I would do it but
> > unfortunetly
> > I only saved the SO (A) AB HP posts.
> >
> > Dick W7ZR
> >
> > Price Reduced!!
> > Vacation or Retire Here
> > It's Paradise on the Beach
> > www.w7zr.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>
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