[CQ-Contest] Categories, Participation and Competition

[Dick Green WC1M]

Six hours seems a little long to me, and might make it difficult for those
who have a hard time sitting in the chair for very long periods of time.
Also, if you want to get in a full 24 hours, and must get your 8 hours each
night, then you end up with one big 8 hour period to kill in the daytime and
you can't break it up. 

The WPX 1-hour minimum works well and there's plenty of room for strategy.
You have to take so much off time that inevitably you must take off one or
more long stretches. You can use them to sleep a somewhat normal span at
night, or you can operate overnight and do some stuff with your family
during the day. But you can also take off an hour or two to mow the lawn,
fix a broken antenna, take the kids to the movies, ditch the last hour of
the contest, etc., without being forced into a lot more off-time than you
want. Sometimes that 1-hour comes in very handy when there's a thunderstorm
in the area or there's high absorption at noon. It's also nice to take an
hour to eat, shower and get a few minutes away from the QRM. I'd hate to be
forced off the air for five more hours when a short break could make the
operating experience so much more pleasant. 

That said, 2- or 3-hour minimums might work pretty well, too.

73, Dick WC1M

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stan Stockton [mailto:k5go at cox.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 9:03 PM
> To: Randy Thompson K5ZD
> Cc: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Categories, Participation and Competition
> 
> Randy Wrote:
> 
> Once you start making limited time categories, you also have to define
them.
> Is it 12 hours consecutive?  Any 12 hours?  If so, then what is an off
time?
> It is not as simple as it may first seem.
> 
> Stan writes:
> 
> As I see it and as I said in the original post, the off times need to be
few
> and long.  If there was a 24 hour category, I would have a maximum of four
> off times and a minimum of 6 hours for each.  That allows someone to
> strategize off times, go to church with the family and out to eat, watch
the
> Dallas Cowboys on TV Sunday afternoon and compete with others who want to
do
> the same thing.  Overall I think it would create more enthusiasm for the
> sport.
> 
> Stan, K5GO
> 
>