[CQ-Contest] Categories, Participation and Competition

[Warren C. Stankiewicz]

It was written:

"By the way, the number of entries is not a meaningful number."

Some folks may feel that way, but, unfortunately, that is not going to make
it so. The measure of a contest's success has, long through the ages, been
the number of people who actually get on the air, make contact(s), and send
in a log to the sponsor. You may not like that, but it's the way it is.

I realize I've tried to bring up this other point a few times before, and
while not strictly germane, perhaps, to this specific discussion, I feel it
still has merit and is worth consideration.

The fact of the matter is that the shorter the contest, the more it favors a
big gun station. As the time of a contest is reduce, operators in a given
area have much fewer chances at a given set of band, propagation, and areas
to work. If we all hear a rare multiplier on 40 meters the first night, the
fever of the pileup may be reduced by the fact, knowledge, or hope, that it
might still be around the next day, and perhaps even again before the
contest closes. In a shorter period, the average's station's chances are
less, the work is harder, and small guys get crushed beneath the wheels of
the Contesting  Devserving. It's a question of percentages and averages
tending towards a certain point.

To shorten a contest, or to offer shorter operating periods within an
existing contest, seems to me to be implying that the only fun one has in a
contest is winning. Which ought not to be so. Contesting is, or at least
should be, fun for everyone. How else can we make that happen?

With malice towards none,

Warren, NF1J/K6KFC