[CQ-Contest] How many hours do SOAB entrants actually operate?

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

Indeed.  So why did the ARRL reject the idea of Single-Op (Assisted) 
categories for IARU, ARRL 160 and ARRL 10?  Too expensive mailing out 
all of those additional certificates, they said.  No wonder, since they 
snail-mail them at full first-class rates.

But back on point, why not send all certificates by e-mailing a .pdf 
file, with mailed certificates only for winners who ask specifically?  
Want it on 60-lb parchment?  No problem.  Bigger?  Smaller?


73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at
http://reversebeacon.net,
blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com.
For spots, please go to your favorite
ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node.

On 3/31/2013 11:16 PM, David Gilbert wrote:
>
> Why are there "too many" categories now?   It's not like participants 
> are segregated on the playing field ... we all send the same reports 
> and work the same frequencies in an almost totally transparent 
> manner.  Nobody can tell which category we are in until after the 
> contest, so please explain the downside of having lots of categories.  
> We don't get money for placing high, and I'll bet most of us don't 
> even care about certificates. Contesting is purely a hobby and all we 
> care about is competing on a reasonably equitable level.
>
> The ONLY downside I can see to having additional categories would be 
> whatever amount of extra work it caused the sponsors.  Other than 
> that, I don't see how anyone gets much of a feeling of accomplishment 
> for beating competitors that didn't even play the whole game.  
> Certainly the 48 hour guys should feel great about beating other 48 
> hour guys, but the overwhelming percentage of the players they beat 
> didn't even really compete with them.  It's not even an endurance 
> contest if it doesn't apply to more than 90% of the entrants.
>
> So what's the downside to additional categories if they represent a 
> significant percentage of the participants?    Please be specific.
>
> Dave   AB7E
>
>
> On 3/31/2013 7:34 PM, somata90924 at mypacks.net wrote:
>> Just how many catagories do we want? There are too many now.  Lets 
>> make it a Low Band /High band entry-- 160,80,40, (Lowband)....then 
>> let's make that assisted, non assisted, then lets make that LP/HP, 
>> then lets make that rookie or non rookie, now do they use a beverage 
>> or not?.... Non Beverage or no beverage,,,JUST how many catagories 
>> does one need?
>>
>> Joe, w6vnr
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: David Gilbert <xdavid at cis-broadband.com>
>>> Sent: Mar 31, 2013 2:18 PM
>>> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
>>> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How many hours do SOAB entrants actually 
>>> operate?
>>>
>>>
>>> Why would all the 24 hour guys work the first 24 hours of the contest?
>>> That doesn't make any sense at all.   Much more likely is that they
>>> would try to pick hours that optimized propagation for contacts and
>>> multipliers, and that would be different for every operator because of
>>> different QTHs ... especially when you take into account different band
>>> preferences.
>>>
>>> It seems to me that a 24 hour category would essentially replace
>>> potentially unhealthy (fatigue, circulation, cycle disruption, etc)
>>> butt-in-the-chair boredom with additional degrees of freedom from a
>>> strategy point of view.  Particpants would have to choose their hours
>>> carefully to maximize rate and multipliers taking into account both
>>> propagation and prime time hours on the other end (which don't
>>> necessarily overlap depending upon the band).  They'd have the
>>> opportunity to tailor their hours to wring the most out of the
>>> capabilities of their antennas (not everyone has cannons on every 
>>> band),
>>> and they'd have the opportunity to work in sleep periods that would
>>> allow them to chase key multipliers during hours they might normally 
>>> not
>>> operate.
>>>
>>> It seems to me that a 48 hour contest where fully 90% of the
>>> participants operate less than half that time is not really a 48 hour
>>> contest anyway.  In any case, for the great majority it isn't a test of
>>> skill ... it's a test of endurance.  Those are two radically different
>>> things.  Adding a 24 hour category would simply recognize that fact, 
>>> and
>>> it would only be necessary to add it for SOAB and SOAB(A) since almost
>>> by definition the single-band and multi-op entries don't really need 
>>> it.
>>>
>>> Based upon the data I could easily foresee that the 24 hour categories
>>> would become the most popular by far .... so how does that become a bad
>>> idea??
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Dave   AB7E
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/30/2013 6:35 PM, Tom Osborne wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> But, what if all the 24 hour guys operate the first 24 and then 
>>>> quit?  That
>>>> would make for a boring weekend for the 48 hour guys.  73
>>>> Tom W7WHY
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>
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