[CQ-Contest] Is it time to reevaluate CQWW Scoring Rules?

[Robert Chudek - K0RC]

David KY1V said:

"I am very interested in ideas how the scoring system could be changed in
a manner that gives everyone a fair chance to win, regardless of
location."

And then Gerry GI0RTN responded:

"It can't be."

So my question then is this (thinking outside the box here)... Why in the 
world is a World Wide Winner identified and awarded if the 'game' is not 
fair, and never can be fair for all participants? Is 'kinda fair' good 
enough?  If there cannot be a direct comparison among participants, what is 
the purpose?

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry Lynch" <director at allianceparty.org>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 5:21 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Is it time to reevaluate CQWW Scoring Rules?


>
> On Wed, 9 December, 2009 3:13 am, David Kopacz wrote:
>
>> I am very interested in ideas how the scoring system could be changed in
>> a manner that gives everyone a fair chance to win, regardless of
>> location.
>
> It can't be.  The big concentrations of contesters are still in Europe and
> the eastern US.  The place to win will still be in the Atlantic basin.
> There's no way someone in VE7, 3D2, JA, 5Z or VU can presently win no
> matter what scoring system you have, unless you bring in some dubious
> system of regional modifiers.
>
> If you move to 1 pt/km scoring, then it's pretty obvious who benefits if
> people would only stop to think about it - areas which lie a long way
> south of the big population centres (high points/QSO) but who still
> benefit from long periods of propagation with no polar disruption - i.e.
> ZD7/8, ZS, V5, PY, CX, LU, and God help us, even VP8 (although they're
> probably a bit too far south).  But think about it carefully - do you want
> your contest DXpedition to go to VP5 or VP8 in November?
>
> These things change over time anyway.  In the 1970s West Coast stations
> could win CQWW in the US but the decline in JA contesting, and surge in Eu
> activity coupled with political changes adding more Eu multipliers means
> the balance of power has tilted East not just from Zone 3 to Zone 5 but
> also from Zone 8/9 to Zone 33.
>
> And in 10 years, who knows?  N7ZG put a smiley after his query about
> increasing contest activity in China.  But why a smiley?  If contesting
> took off in BY and VU seriously the way it has in Eastern Europe (and it's
> already growing) it would again tilt geographical advantage, within Eu it
> would probably do so fairly dramatically to the East.
>
> Winning Eu or the US is, in my view, just as much an achievement as
> winning a world title anyway.  The current scoring system encourages me to
> run DX rather than just squatting somewhere and running Eu; it also
> encourages the 6Ys to run me rather than just hunting for US easy meat, or
> the HS0s to work me rather than just JA.  In a *DX* contest, that's a good
> thing.
>
> 73
> Gerry GI0RTN
>
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