[CQ-Contest] Competing in the Daylight

[Eric Hilding]

I was going to re-thread this as "Where's The Beef?"

In case you haven't noticed, all major "sporting" events have real-time 
coverage.  NASCAR/Daytona car drivers have on-board video cameras and are 
in two-way radio contact with their pit crews (wouldn't this technically be 
an "Assisted Driving" category? :-)
Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Hockey. et.al. ... every knows 
EXACTLY where his or her competitors stand.

Oh gosh...I forgot...those are "Professional" sporting events, whereas Ham 
Radio Contesting is "Amateur".  Right. Sure.

So "Where's The Beef?"

In consideration off all the tremendous investment in SO2R equipment, 
bigger "Aluminum Farms" and larger electrical power bills (No, I'm not 
saying some Contesters run "over legal limit" ... cough, cough), I see 
Contesting today vs. the 1960's about the same as comparing The Amazing 
Race & Survivor today to Father Knows Best and My Three Sons of the past.

Unless more new Contesters enter the hobby, we are headed for 
extinction.  So why continue to live in the Dark Ages when so much more 
adventure can be had in the Contesting journey which remains?  Hi-Tech is 
here to stay...Embrace it...Fondle it...USE it to the MAX to set new 
Contesting records.

Yes, I can see yet another Monitor at Contesting Consoles...one which 
displays "Real Time" (I should say "REALLY Real Time" compared to the K7C 
DXA), where major competitor's rates per hour are in constant display 
second-by-secnod alerting one to missed opportunities on other 
bands.  Green-Yellow-Red light sequences and alarm bells and blinking 
indicators to be used to "shift strategy" based upon predefined parameters 
to gauge what the competition is up to and where they are at any given 
second.  Options for sorting and prioritizing, etc. offer e-x-c-i-t-i-n-g 
opportunities.

Hey guys...The ARRL SS, NA Sprint & other contests give us all "Real Time" 
QSO tally data already (minus Mults) in the contest exchanges, so "Where's 
The Beef?"  Those who want to continue to live in a Contest Cave should 
petition all Contest Sponsors to DELETE Serial # (QSO Numbers) from Contest 
exchanges so you can have even more cluelessness as to what your 
competition is doing.  Then you can wait a year (or more) after the event 
to sort it all out when the results are (hopefully) published.  Oh...maybe 
ask for sponsors to disallow SO2R while you're at it too.

In case you haven't noticed, we entered a "Brave New World" many years ago, 
so...

Embrace it...Fondle it...USE it to the MAX to set new Contesting 
records.  The true "Professionals" are doing this every day in their 
sporting events.

IMHO & 73...

Rick, K6VVA