[CQ-Contest] benchmarks / bait and switch / records

[Jim White, K4OJ]

Along the lines of the age olde wisdom:

"Don't fix it if it ain't broke"

I say NO to changing scoring formats...I find it fascinating to compare 
scores of the last cycle versus the current one - this would be lost if 
you re-do the scoring formulae.

I feel that the contesting scores should always be increasing - because 
as a collective group we are always learning more and as such becoming 
better at it.  New technologies emerge - we embrace them and another 
jump is made in our cummulative scores... BUT... we still have the 
benchmarks of previous contenders as our reference since the scoring 
methodology stays the same.

Perhpas this is one more sign of senility setting in - you youngsters 
don't go messing with things, etc...

Perhaps this is just a segue into a bait and switch ad for the Florida 
QSO Party 2,003 on April 26 & 27...

Naw, this is just me thinking that we should pay homage to the score 
records - have you looked at the dates associated with records and how 
many seem to last longer than others... sometimes it is for very good 
reason - it is because it is intended to be there as a tip of the hat 
for a fine performance.  Sometimes the records are a function of the 
Sunspot cycle and will last for nearly a cycle - that is very cool....

The only way to do this "right" is if you change scoring formats to 
recalculate the old scores - and, since they were made by guys 
maximizing their operations under the "current" rules of the time they 
may no longer be as "impressive" - or they may be "overly" impressive...

When the Florida QSO Party was first resurrected by the Florida Contest 
Group we wrote a set of rules, after the first year it was apparent we 
had incorrectly weighted the scoring and we re-wrote the rules.  What 
K1TO did, which I question major competitions like the CQWW could ever 
do, was to re-score the previous years' entries and then applied them to 
the records so current contenders would know what they were shooting for 
in current day point values!  K1TO, however, is unique - his efforts 
associated with the FQP are unprecedented and anyone who doesn't think 
so has not read one of his FQP writeups - contest number junkies could 
not ask for more!

Before you jump to try something new, think about what went into getting 
where we are now - the ARRL made a catastrophic mistake when it tried to 
change the rules for the ARRL DX Competition - they immediately switched 
back to the olde format by the next running - learn from their mistake!

And, in case you were wondering, it is 81 days until the Florida QSO Party.

73,

Jim, K4OJ
 

...bait and switch - isn't that the Salmon Run?