[CQ-Contest] Comments on Proposed Changes to ARRL DX

[John T. Laney III]

As a contester who has operated at home, as a guest op, and has gone on 
trips to far off places for major contests many times since 1966, I am 
opposed to limiting operating time for single ops.  I wish the CQ WPX 
time had not been cut back to 36 hours.  I am pretty much OK with 
limited times for 160M and 10M contests when the off-time would have 
been unproductive anyway.  But for ARRL DX and CQ WW and the like, I 
would hate to make a trip overseas for a contest and have to sit (or 
sleep) for a number of hours when I could be operating and giving out a 
rare multiplier.  This has been my regret for the past two years going 
to PJ4 for CQ WPX CW.  I feel that the difference in number one and 
number two in a category will be defined by which 12 hours the operators 
decide to take off.  This is something that is planned in advance and 
adjusted during the contest, but, only in hindsight can you tell who 
made the correct decision (usually the one with the highest score).  A 
limited operating time in ARRL DX  contests for single operators would 
certainly limit the number of QSOs that I could make at home and on 
trips overseas.

I suspect that limited operating time for many would mean that many 
would quit at that mark, rather than continuing until it isn't fun any 
more.  We see that often when there is some recognition for making say 
200 QSOs.  How many ops stop at 200?  Many.  You can tell by the 
results.  Yes, I know that a few of them were motivated to keep going 
until they got 200 rather than quitting with a lower number, but I guess 
it would be at least as many QSOs lost because of the limit.

Also, these limits results in less activity on the marginal bands.  I 
made 3 QSOs on 160 in CQ WPX CW in 2010 and zero in 2011 because of the 
36-hour limit.  80M and 10M would also see a similar drop in activity 
(except for the single band and multi-multi entrants).

I realize that I may not be able to do 48 hours straight in a contest 
one day (when the contest starts at 8 PM, I have been up about 60 hours 
by the time the contest is over) and, when that happens, I'd prefer to 
decide on my own limit, not an arbitrary one imposed by the rules.

And, I say this at age 69.

73 with good will toward all,

John, K4BAI (ex HL9KQ, TG, VP7, PJ2, HH2, 8P9, J7, now PJ4, and others).