[CQ-Contest] Is it a time to change rulesfor HQstnsin IARUcontest ?

[Ted Bryant]

I was the other 40m CW operator for W1AW/4.  Out of over 1200 QSO's on that band, a few over 700
were US stations.  Any rules change that would create a disincentive for those stations to work
their own headquarters station would be a mistake. I believe that this would be true for any
country's headquarters station.

On the other hand, for stations to line up and work only their own country's HQ station, I believe,
is outside the spirit of the rules if not in direct violation. (wouldn't they be "uniques"?) If they
also work other stations, who they work is their choice, isn't it?  So, I don't see thresholds as
really being practical. (Remember the old ARRL DX contests with country "quotas"?)

Like Doug said, the TCG main objective was to provide a Headquarters QSO to ANY station regardless
of point value. Doing this may have actually cost us in our friendly rivalry with sister HQ station
NU1AW/8, but it's what we felt was our primary purpose....and it WAS fun!

73, Ted W4NZ


-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Doug Smith W9WI
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 12:27 PM
To: cq-contest
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Is it a time to change rulesfor HQstnsin
IARUcontest ?


On Mon, 2006-07-17 at 09:36, Kelly Taylor wrote:
> Do other HQ stations feel the need to complain? (Doug, what say W1AW/4?)

About "manufactured QSOs" in Europe?  Not at all.  Due to geography, I
don't think HQ stations outside Europe can compete in this contest.  And
while I certainly can't speak for the ARRL as a whole or even the crew
that operated W1AW/4 this year, I don't think our uncompetitive status
really bothers us.

The "manual" we handed out before the contest started with:

"Our goals:
To provide the ARRL HQ multiplier to as many IARU participants as
possible.  To make a decent score.  To have fun!"

Nobody in TCG doubts that we easily accomplished all three goals.

Now, that said, I can see how things might be different in Europe.
European HQ stations *are* competitive, so I suppose there *is* a point
to trying to outscore the other country.  (I wonder if having the
contest coincide with the World Cup contributes to that
attitude?<grin>)  I can see where they might care about a possible
unfair advantage.

Again, I think it's a concern of unintended side-effects.  It's kinda
like the scoring rules in CQ WW, or the prohibition on the use of 146.52
in VHF contests: a rule that's desirable in one part of the world might
make the contest far less enjoyable somewhere else.

--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN  EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

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