[CQ-Contest] Fragmenting and cheapening contests.

[K3BU at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/19/04 9:38:51 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
rustyhill at earthlink.net writes:
>>Actually, they have 400M, 800M, Mile, 5K,etc, sometimes run in conjunction
with the Marathon.<<

I didn't see it NYC Marathon.
OK, I picked wrong analogy. Let's try Daytona 500.
The point is, we have "Marathon" or "Daytona 500" in our major contests. They 
have their rules (not always perfect, but what is.) They have their tradition 
and all time records. They show who is the best (or can go to Af, SA :-). 
Keep the good thing, because that is why they got popular and valued. They are 
already thinned out with categories. They should not be cheapened by more 
"categories".

Not enough participants? The way I see it, scores are going up, more people 
taking part, bands are getting crowded with bigger signals from bigger antenna 
farms. Now with no code "enhancements" you can expect more QRM and rude CB 
like behavior and cheating. 
Ham Radio is not for sissies, take Viagra or take a nap :-)

There are more pressing improvements that we could use. Like eliminating 3 
QSO penalty. Another one is, 3 point QSO advantage by going to the next door 
scarcely populated continent. This made sense way back when there was little 
activity form those continents and the aim was to make it more attractive. 
Nowadays, when we go for blood, and there is more activity, it skews the results. 
Make it 3 point QSO for everybody and we can maintain records and boost activity 
by making it possible for "regular" stations to make it to top ten. It will 
promote station building, club growth and no need to go through airport security 
hassles. 


Yuri, K3BU.us