[CQ-Contest] Categories, Participation and Competition

[Stan Stockton]

Attempts have been made in some contests to create new categories where ones with wires or tribanders can compete on a more level basis.  Most contests have categories for different power levels. 

The one item that I think is most important and currently ignored is the time of operation.  In a world of children, grandchildren, other family obligations, honey do's to keep the YF happy, and an aging group of contesters, many cannot compete because they cannot work the contest the entire period, which in many cases is 48 hours.

I would only have categories that encourage enhancement of station performance and instead include categories in a 48 hour contest for perhaps 12 hour, 24 hour and 48 hour operating time - 24 and 48 hour for sure.  There are a lot of people out there who would do really well if they could stay up for 48 hours but cannot ever win anything with a 24 hour effort.  Off times should be longer than what most are used to having in Sweepstakes and other contests with time limits   Perhaps a maximum of four off-times with a minimum of 6 hours for each would be appropriate for a 24 hour entry.

I can see a lot of people getting excited about competing in a contest if they had a way of doing it without having to commit to the entire 48 hour period. 

Stan, K5GO