[CQ-Contest] A Suggestion for 2010 WRTC Selection Criteria

[Cqtestk4xs@aol.com]

It's a little late for this now, but I think whatever organizer takes on the 
responsibility for the next WRTC, needs to come up with the scoring grid ahead 
of time instead of post-facto.

Let the guys know which contests will be used and what the weighting is ahead 
of time, the penalties for being a singleband effort or part of a MM crew and 
so forth.  If guys know ahead of time what the scoring grid looks like, there 
should be less griping about the selection process.  Many good ops are being 
hurt by the MM and single band rules.  I would not have done so many single 
band entries if I had known ahead of time how they would be scored, and lots of 
guys may not have operated as parts of MM crews if they were seriously 
thinking of going to WRTC. 

I see it as a big positive for contesting.  If guys knew the Sprint counted 
450 basis points as does the SS, can you imagine the amount of guys who would 
be in the Sprint CW and SSB?  Think how many guys of the DX contest world might 
be tempted to do a serious effort in the SS.  Wouldn't it be cool to hear SS 
being done seriously by KC1XX, W3LPL and K3LR as single ops, either by the 
owners or guest ops?  The participation would really be increased in some of the 
'lesser" contests.  Guys who are geographically and station hardware 
challenged, might be tempted to travel a couple hundred miles to a competitive station 
that might otherwise be inactive in one of the qualifying contests.  There are 
so many big stations inactive for domestic contest, it might be the way to 
get them on 

I'm not talking about spending $1000 bucks on airline tickets to operate in 
the Caribbean, just a tank of gas for the opportunity to have a chance of 
getting some points for WRTC as a guest op at a good/great station in your state or 
the one next to you.

This post is not a knock against the PY guys.  It is just a suggestion as to 
what could be done in the future to improve contesting and selection for the 
2010 WRTC.  I'm sure others have other worthwhile suggestions too, but let's 
not beat on the PY guys too much.  Their job, and remember they are all 
volunteers, is a tough one.

Bill K4XS