[CQ-Contest] The Perfect Contest

[Eric Hilding]

It's going on 4AM...I have an early meeting in a few hours, but each time 
my head hits the pillow, "The Perfect Contest" keeps working like an 
Insomnia pill ;-(.

Hopefully, a few of  the issues raised in some direct emails will also be 
addressed herein.  Many of these pertained to involvement by "Casual 
Contesters", so this got me to thinking about "The Perfect Contest" in a 
different way.

VENUE -
Is "The Perfect Contest" meant to be like the Olympics, SuperBowl, Grand 
Prix, Daytona 500, etc., or more like the ARRL SS or FD (where a great 
number of Casual once-a-year" contesters/participants "drop by" to try and 
work all sections in-between mowing the lawn or dealing with items on their 
Honey-Do lists?  Ooops...sorry...Field Day is NOT a contest, but rather an 
"Event".  Umh, I still can't figure out why FD listed under "Contests" on 
the ARRL website :-)

If we are talking a Daytona 500 type event, then the Johnny-Come-Lately's 
with their homebrew go-carts should not even come near the track.  Try and 
get on the track of a major event without "Registering"!!!  I'll bet there 
are but a teenie weenie number of contesters, serious or casual, who do not 
have an Internet connection and a web browser.  Registration could take 
less than 30 seconds.   Gimme a break.  If "The Perfect Contest" is meant 
to be the Creme de la Creme of contesting events, I don't recall seeing 
Joe-Blow "Casual Skier" going down the slopes in the Winter Olympics next 
to the formally registered skiers who have are wearing a NUMBER.  There are 
umpteen other contests for the Casual ops to participate in almost weekly.

On the other side of the coin, if "The Perfect Contest"is a free-for-all 
and open to anyone including those who want to spend a few minutes and then 
pull the plug, perhaps the main players get a 6 character/digit cryptic 
entry number to use in the exchange, but the causal guy or gal just sends 
"CASUAL" (software logging modules would have a 6 character/digit maximum 
width in this field :-)

Regardless of who the players are or how they get on the contesting track, 
EVERYONE still needs to RTFR for ANY contest before they play.  Rules RULE.

FORMAT -
Is "The Perfect Contest" a single mode event (like CW), or are there also 
SSB, RTTY, PSK31, or MIXED MODE versions?  (NOTE:  I think I know N3BB's 
answer to this :-)  Would there be:

1. The Perfect Contest - W/VE Domestic Edition

2. The Perfect Contest - DX + W/VE "International" Edition

3. The Perfect Contest - DX Only - NON-W/VE Edition

4. The Perfect Contest - Beginners Edition

5. The Perfect Contest - Free-For-All Edition

etc., etc. ???

EXCHANGE & LOG CHECKING -
So many possibilities already on the table.  I advocate ditching any RS or 
RST.  Those with hearing problems who want these left in might consider an 
MFJ Signal Enhancer or some other audio widget device to help with their 
handicaps.  RS and RST should have gone the way of the Edsel decades ago, IMHO.

Here's a real Paradigm Shift option for consideration vs. a "skill 
building" based exchange:  Ditch EVERYTHING in the exchange except for 
sending "EE" or "R" ("CFM" would be too long).  This would enable much 
higher QSO rates for all participants!!!

Another Paradigm Shift would be to take the old school A, B, C, D, F letter 
grading approach rather than "Pass vs. Fail".  Currently, if there are ANY 
errors in an exchange, you get whacked.  So why not "partial credit" based 
upon how many characters you have copied correctly?  Educators should love 
this one :-)   And how many Sporting events penalize one player because 
another player is the one who screwed up?  In other words, if the guy on 
the other end of YOUR exchange is having a "bad hair day", why in Hades 
should you get whacked for it???  Something to chew on, folks.

SCORING -
Try this Paradigm Shift...why not get rid of all these "wimpy" score totals 
for beating your brains out for hours?  IMHO, I like the concept of 100,000 
POINTS-PER-QSO...you make 1,000 Q's and end up with ONE-HUNDRED MILLION 
POINTS (now that's my kinda contest :-)  Just think how much nicer that 
.pdf certificate you print on your own color printer will look with two 
extra commas in the score total.  Yeah.

LOG SUBMITTAL -
I think "Real Time Scoring" has arrived.  If all participants are tied into 
the Sponsor's "Central Contest Computer", as soon as the contest is over, 
then all participant's "logs" are ALREADY IN THE SYSTEM.  There is no 
reason why final results can not be available, like IMMEDIATELY.  Once 
again, how many sporting events require everyone to wait even 24 hours to 
get the results?  No chance here for anyone to screw around with logs.

So many options for making "The Perfect Contest" the "Purrrrrfect" Cat's Meow.

73...

Rick, K6VVA