[CQ-Contest] ARRL 160 Reporting

[Bruce Sawyer]

>.How can DX stations be expected to get on the air and put forth
>much effort in the ARRL 160 Meter Contest when the reporting
>does not provide them with any recognition?
>
>Now that sunspots are dropping and 160m conditions will be
>improving, please, please add at least a "Top 5 DX" box in the
>published results!
>
>73,
 >Jeff Maass       jmaass at columbus.rr.com     Located near Columbus Ohio

Alas, it has always been thus with ARRL 160.  The rules and reporting on
this contest almost seem designed to discourage entrants from outside of
US/VE.  (I refuse to use the term "DX", because I don't know what that is.)
The only reason I have ever found for getting on during this contest was
boredom, and that's hardly enough motivation to sustain two night's worth of
CQing.  The US and VE entrants can get multipliers--and point credit--from
all over the world, yet those of us outside of US/VE can only work states
and provinces.  Thus the scores are not at all comparable between US/VE and
those outside of US/VE.   Yet when the results are posted, we're all lumped
together into one glob.

I did start this contest last December with the plan of making a full-bore
effort the whole way, but by Saturday night I couldn't remember why!  Once
you get down to the fifth layer of stations and the rate falls to 30/hr or
less,  it's hard to stay motivated unless there is some sort of competitive
inducement.  The way this contest is structured, there's none of that.  So I
set myself a goal of 1000 Q's just to keep going, and once I hit that I
pulled the switch and went to bed.  The fact that this was still the high
non-US/VE score (despite quitting early into Saturday evening) should
indicate I wasn't the only one who couldn't find any good reason to slug it
out to the finish.

Bruce, ZF2NT