[CQ-Contest] Re: Consider this

[Kelly Taylor]

First off, let me state I do not run SO2R, so this is not about protecting
any turf.

I don't believe SO2R warrants a separate category. W7ZR's analysis -- so
statistically flawed on so many levels I can't imagine anyone would base an
argument upon it -- simply shows one station in the promised land of
propagation laying a big old can of whupp-ass on a station in a
propagationally challenged area. No big surprise there.

Is there an advantage to SO2R? Perhaps, though it seems the jury is still
out. Sure, stations will claim to have made 100 QSOs or 200 QSOs on the
second radio. But even that is not valid statistically unless you make those
QSOs net of QSOs lost on the main radio while fiddling with SO2R.

Nobody has even ventured to speculate on QSOs lost, though SO2R continues to
be popular so obviously people think there's an advantage.

Some SO2R foes are in la-la land if they think that running two radios means
doubling their QSO count. Not even close.

But is the advantage to SO2R any different than the ability to copy several
streams of CW at once. Clearly, ops with that ability have a large operative
advantage over ops who struggle to copy one stream of CW at once. Do we
create a separate category for them?

Is the advantage to SO2R any different than the advantage granted an
operator whose internal SSB filters work better than the next guy's? Do we
create a separate category for them?

Is the advantage to SO2R any different than the advantage granted an
operator whose ability to pick bandswitch times is better than the next
guy's? Do we create a separate category for them?

How about the operators with the innate ability to find run frequencies
almost instantly?

(Oh, and don't bring in the economic argument, please. It's simply not
relevant. First, you can borrow the other radio. It doesn't need its own
amp. It doesn't need its own set of 5/5/5/5/5/5 yagis. You can homebrew your
way past the connectivity issues. Second, if you're going to apply
economics, then why not apply economics to the case of the ham who's
struggling to keep his FTDX400 on the air versus the guy who's FT 1000 MP
Mark V just arrived? Or the guy who's pair of homebrew 811s can't hold a
candle to an Alpha 87s pair of 8877s? SO2R is an ability that's practised
and honed over countless hours of operating. It can't be bought.)

I think the proposal to create a separate category for SO2R amounts to a
lowering of standards and marginalizes operators for doing what we really
want them to do -- be the best ops they can be.

If you would like to self-identify as SO1R, and have a separate category for
that, I wouldn't complain. I think, that like the tribander-single element
class, it would be OK to allow ops to opt out of the big leagues if they
choose. That would be democratic. Fair. Reasonable. And it wouldn't lower
the standards in the main category. I also suspect, that much like the
number of ops who would qualify for T/S don't choose that category, you'd
have ops with one radio who choose not to self-identify as SO1R.

There's a romantic quality to being a giant-killer. I wouldn't want to see
that taken away by forcing the giant into a different arena.

73, kelly
ve4xt