[CQ-Contest] The thread that will not die

[Jack Brindle]

I fully agree. Well, almost...

At the end of every Sweepstakes, I have the following thoughts:
It's over.
I am _really_ tired.
Wow, I _really_ enjoyed the contest this year.
I could have done much better.
I can't wait until next year...

Then I start thinking about changes I should make, even though I am  
too tired to do anything but sleep right then.

I use all the other contests to prepare for Sweepstakes. I just wish  
it wasn't so long until the next one. Being a "little pistol" I do  
much better in domestic contests than those for DX. For us, SS is the  
ultimate in contesting.

There is one minor (well, could be major) change I would like to make  
for pretty much all contests. At present the use of packet spotting  
places all stations in the U category. This means that I compete with  
the big boys running high power. But I run low power. I would really  
like to have a category that is low power, packet assisted. I then  
don't have to make the choice of either working in the low power  
category or gaining a bit of an advantage by using spotting. I also  
wouldn't have to compete with big guns whom i have no chance of  
beating. Maybe for next year???

On Nov 21, 2005, at 4:46 PM, Art Boyars wrote:

> W7GG tries again:
>
> "if u think ss is so much fun try the naqp ....
> it fixes all the things that are annoying in the ss!
>
> "for example:  its 12 hours shorter, u can work stations agn on  
> each band, the xhange is shorter, and mults count agn on each  
> band ....  etc
>
> "not to detract from the ss format or heritage but it cud be made  
> better if the sponsor saw fit .... "
>
> I vote NO!  I like it the way it is (but I am glad that it is no  
> longer two weekends).  There are NAQPs and other tests for people  
> who don't like the challenge of grinding it out. If you go to the  
> band-QSOs and band-mults, it'll just make it less fun for the  
> little guys (like me).  And as for the exchange being "too long" --  
> gee whiz!  Let there be at least one contest where we have to prove  
> that we can communicate.  With SCP and automated computer logging  
> the WW DX tests hardly require copying ANY info; everybody is busy  
> before the test making sure that the dot-cty files have the right  
> zone for every ham in the world.
>
> I wish this idea for "fixing" SS would go away forever.  But that's  
> an unrealistic hope.  So, instead, I'll hope for enough patience to  
> politely disagree every time somebody pushes its head above the  
> ground.
>
> Now I'll go back to trying to figure out how to improve my skills  
> and strategy for SS next year.
>
> (And BTW, I see that most people think that current SO2R practice  
> -- including "dueling CQs" -- is acceptable.  I was QRT from about  
> 1981 to 2000, and I missed those developments.  I'll not raise the  
> issue again.)
>
> 73, Art K3KU (that little signal you could not quite copy in SS SSB)
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- Jack Brindle, W6FB
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