[CQ-Contest] Move WPX Back to 30 Hours?

[Ed Muns]

Operating WPX RTTY SOHP as P49X always ends long before the rate drops off.
>From my selfish perspective, I've wished I could operate more than 30 hours.
However, that's a poor reason for increasing the SO time period to 36 hours
like CW and SSB are now.  For all the rationale Randy and Trey have shared,
I agree that 30 hours is better for the contest and for more of the
participants than 36 hours.  It's to everyone's advantage, including P49X's,
to increase participants and competition.  30 hours will meet this better
than 36 hours.

If I want to operate more hours in WPX as P49X, I can enter M2 and have the
full 48 hours plus be able to simultaneously transmit on both rigs!
Therefore, single-ops actually have a choice of 30 or 48 hours in WPX RTTY.
36 hours is a bad compromise because it diminishes the advantages of the
30-hour format and distinguishes it less from the 48-hour alternative
(either WPX M2 or other 48-hour contests).

I urge the WPX CW & SSB organizers to move the single-op time period back to
30 hours.

73,
Ed - W0YK

N5KO adds:
> Randy has summarized the situation very well.
> 
> I think the 30-hour SOAB WPX format was very good, and I 
> still think that the new 36-hour format is a mistake.  I 
> would love to see the contest go back to the 30-hour format 
> -- it was the quintessential world wide contest for "medium guns."
> 
> Anyone who has been in the contesting game for a long time 
> will recognize the following fact: The best ops with the best 
> stations in the best locations tend to win contests.  There 
> is not much mystery to this aspect of contesting.
> 
> o The beauty of the 30-hour format is that it gives the best ops with
>   the best stations in the best locations less time to assert these
>   advantages over everyone else.  This makes the race closer and more
>   exciting.
> 
> o Because the big guns spend fewer hours on the air, the 
> bands are less
>   congested and this gives the medium guns more space to establish
>   themselves.
> 
> o Having to pick what you think your best 30 hours will be 
> introduces an
>   interesting aspect of strategy that is not present in most contests.
> 
> o It's ok for contests to be different.  There are plenty of 48-hour
>   contests available for guys who feel limited by the 30-hour format.
> 
> Not sure what else to say.  This horse was beaten dead 10 
> years ago -- would love to see it come back to life!
> 
> --Trey, N5KO/HC8N
> 
> 
> K5ZD writes:
> > History has shown that the shorter time period enables more 
> > people to 
> > be competitive from more places around the world.  For 
> > example, from 
> > W6, it is more likely to find 30 good hours that include 
> > Europe or JA 
> > propagation than it is to find 36 hours.  Where from W1, we 
> > have 40+ 
> > hours of good prop to Europe.  By limiting to 30 hours, both the W1 
> > and W6 ops have the same amount of rate opportunities to work with.
> >
> > The biggest complaint against 30 hours is that there is a 
> > lot of time 
> > where you may be wanting to operate, yet can't.  This tends 
> > to drive a 
> > lot of activity into the first 24 hours and then leave the bands a 
> > little emptier on day 2.
> >
> > As a side note, the WPX RTTY contest has kept the 30 hour 
> > limit.  I am 
> > not sure what prompted the increase from 30 to 36 hours.  Based on 
> > comments over the years, the guys who are on expeditions or in high 
> > rate locations tend to favor the longer operating time.  
> > The guys in 
> > less advantage areas have voted by giving up on the contest and so 
> > their comments have diminished.
> > 
> > Randy, K5ZD