[CQ-Contest] Dumbing-Down Contests?

[Warren C. Stankiewicz]

The original question posed, as I recall, was trying to make the point of "it's broke, and we need to fix it."

And there certainly have been a number of very creative suggestions as to how to go about this, as well as some characterizations of the same.

I can see the argument that if you make a contest everyone can operate in, everyone will operate in it. I don't necessarily agree with that, or the assumption that "A" automatically implies "B".

The deeper question, of course, is "Are people not operating in a contest because the exchange is too hard?" I may hear that complaint from a number of contesters in the upper echelons of our sport, but I'm certainly not hearing it from the rank and file, much less from the casual participant or observer. Yet these are the people are the heart and soul of any contest. Is anyone hearing them complain?

Yes, in the four big ARRL contests (DX and SS), you have to pay attention to the exchange. This can make them slightly more "difficult" to do well in, but don't get me wrong--winning either one is not something I expect to do in my lifetime (although one last top 10 would be nice). This factor adds a difference to the ARRL contests in respect to CQ WW, which is an entirely different animal. I don't think we need to make all contests clones.

With malice towards none,

Warren, NF1J