[CQ-Contest] Follow The Money

[Randy Thompson, K5ZD]

Or...

John Q. Public picks up a QST at the local newsstand and skims through it.
He sees a bunch of pages of call signs and numbers.  He thinks "boring", and
puts it back down.  Jane Q. Ham pretty much does the same thing when QST
arrives in the mail.

Let's face it.  If your call isn't included, line scores are pretty boring.
Writeups that just say callsign 1 beat callsign 2 are also pretty dry and
boring.  I actually find myself reading through NCJ thinking there are too
many contest scores in there!

For me, the most entertaining part of QST these days is the section up front
with the photos of people doing interesting stuff.  The ARRL has been active
in recruiting people to take on the job of contest write-ups.  If you have a
talent for generating excitement through the written word, contact N1ND and
volunteer to help!  If you aren't a writer, submit some pictures and fun
anecdotes about what happened in the contest to N1ND or the appointed
contest reporter.

QST is full color throughout.  No reason we can't put some of that to use in
promoting the fun, thrill, and competition of radio sport.

Randy, K5ZD

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-admin at contesting.com
> [mailto:cq-contest-admin at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Ron Wetjen
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 15:35 PM
> To: CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Follow The Money
>
>
> Schulz Jonathan wrote:
>
> > My take on the whole thing; if the Web coverage could give us the
> > results in a more timely manner and continue to be as good as the
> > ones I have seen so far, (SS, ARRL 160) I couldn't care less that
> > they are dropping line scores in QST.
>
> Why is everyone missing the point?
>
> Kid Q. Public picks up a QST at the local newsstand and skims through
> it.  He sees a bunch of "low tech" articles and a lot of nice photos of
> people doing stuff with HT's.  He thinks "geeks", and puts it back
> down.  (He wont bother to visit the ARRL Web site - thinking it's more
> "geek" stuff.)
>
> On the other hand, he runs across something about a "contest" which
> catches his eye - COOL!  He buys QST, and reads further, and perhaps
> sparks his interest in Amateur Radio and getting involved in
> contesting.  That "hook" will no longer be there.
>
> If people don't even know something exists, how will they find out about
> it?
>
> Ron
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