[CQ-Contest] WPX Plaques - Who should win them?

[Robert L. Shohet]

Hi all,

I like the idea of the NA plaque going to the winner of NA
regardless of whether a US, VE or other NA station has won it.

It is much, much harder to win NA as a US op because of the
disparity in scoring - all US-US count as 1 point regardless of band,
but US-VE can be 2 or 4 points and US-DX can be 3 or 6.  Canadian
ops therefore have a big advantage over US ops in scoring, and other
NA stations only a slight additional advantage over VE ops.  This is true
for CQWW as well.

In SSB contests, the VE ops also have a large advantage over US ops in
the fact that they can work DX directly in the lower qrm DX phone subbands,
whereas the US can not do so.  This skews the scoring even more against the
US ops. compared to VE and other NA ops.

So if someone in the US  happens to have the highest score
in NA, a pretty rare occurrence, they should win the NA plaque too!

I also believe that the winner of any category should win a plaque every
time, regardless of how many wins in a row there have been.

Several times I have won US SOABHP and not received a plaque
because I had won the plaque the year before.  Likewise, I have also
won a plaque in a contest where I finished 2nd, and someone else won
back to back years and did NOT win the plaque the next year.  I think this 
is a
silly practice, even though well-meant and actually DIScourages 
participation
from serious competitors.

It's like awarding the Olympic gold medal for "Fastest Man" to the 2nd place
winner of the 100M dash, just because the Fastest Man won the event the year
before.  That would cheapen the gold and cause the best competitors to lose 
interest,
possibly harming the quality of the event.

73
Bob KQ2M