[CQ-Contest] Categories, Participation and Competition

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

An interesting way to run a 24 hour sub-contest within a 48 hour contest  
would be along the lines of what is done with the German Markrothen  RTTY 
Contest.  In that one the entire contest runs 8 hours on, 8 off,  8 on, 8 off, 
and 8 on.  So it is a 24 hour contest spread out over 40 hours  with all the 
24 hours of the solar day being part of the contest.
 
In the context of a 48 hour contest this category would allow 24 hours, but 
 require that the hours spent operating one day would have to be off times 
the  other.
 
One major, and valid, objection to shortened periods is that the winning  
strategy would be to run Europe for about 20 of the 24 hours, and cherry pick 
 needed multipliers for the rest of the time. So guys outside Europe would 
see  less activity during the hours that the bands favored their areas.
 
Such a format would be a nice break for guys in places like Japan,  where 
the 48 hour period ends as they are headed off to, or are at, work at 8 am  
on Monday morning.  And the church goers elsewhere would have an easy  choice 
of which day to operate the morning openings.
 
Minimum operating periods, how to handle accidental overlaps, etc., would  
be open for discussion, but to me this seems like a natural way to divide up 
a  half time event.
 
 
73  -  Jim   K8MR
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 6/16/2009 3:42:34 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
k5go at cox.net writes:

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
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