[CQ-Contest] NAQP CW - Jan 8-9

[Chris Plumblee]

Bruce,

I'll offer the other side of the coin for argument's sake, because I think
there is more to the potential conflict between the two contests in question
than your email makes it appear.

First, as to your point that, in 2000 and 2005 the CW NAQP and RTTY Roundup
were held on the same weekend relatively harmoniously, I would point out
that RTTY contesting has grown explosively in the last 5-6 years. In fact,
in 2005 the high score for RU was posted by P43P with just over 2,000 QSOs.
In 2010 P49X logged nearly 3,000 QSOs to win the contest. In 2005 there were
922 stations submitting logs to the ARRL for the Roundup. In 2010 there were
1,592. It seems to me that the bandwidth that RTTY Roundup will require, and
therefore the potential for interference between the participants in the two
contests, may be considerably more in 2011 than it was in 2005.

Secondly, I would not support abandoning the traditional 2nd weekend in
January for the NAQP, but I would propose, in years where there is a
conflict between Roundup and the NAQP CW, switching the January NAQP CW and
NAQP SSB weekends. Interference between NAQP SSB and RTTY Roundup operations
would be virtually nil, and the NAQP CW would share the weekend with the
Hungarian DX Contest and the Feld Hell Sprint, which seems preferable to one
of the two largest RTTY DX contests on the calendar.

Though I acknowledge that it will be difficult to get the word out to all
potential ops about the switch, it seems shortsighted to just leave things
the way they are and hope that interference is minimal. NAQP ops, who by
rule will be running 100w or less, will endure an awful lot of disruptive
QRM, accidental though it may be, from DX and Stateside RTTY ops running
1.5kw.

All totals above are from the ARRL Results Database.

73,
Chris WF3C

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 01:06:21 -0600 (CST)
From: Bruce Horn <bhorn at hornucopia.com>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] NAQP CW - Jan 8-9
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Message-ID:
       <580964460.65924.1292310381906.JavaMail.root at mail-3.01.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Hi,

I know there's been discussions on some of the reflectors regarding the
weekend conflict between the NAQP CW and ARRL RTTY Roundup contests in
January.

I've elected to not change the historic weekend of the NAQP CW contest. When
the ARRL moved the RTTY Roundup to the NAQP CW weekend in the past in 2000
and 2005, the CW contest was held as scheduled. My review of reflector
comments posted at that time did not reveal a serious disruption to NAQP CW.
Because of the large number of NAQP participants who do not frequent the
contest reflector and to discourage other contests from moving to the second
weekend in January, I believe it's important to maintain the predictable
date of the contest. I'm hopeful that the contesters in the two contests can
cooperate to minimize the degree of overlap during the first 12 hours of the
Roundup.

I realize this decision will inconvenience those who would like to make a
serious effort in both contests, but the good news is that it will be 2022
before the next potential overlap.

The rules on the NCJ web site have been updated.

73 de Bruce, WA7BNM   (bhorn at hornucopia.com)
Manager, NAQP CW/SSB Contests

-- 
Chris Plumblee
407.494.5155