[CQ-Contest] CQ WW Scoring System needs revision?

[Michael Adams]

LU5DX wrote:

> Distance scoring does have merit for Stew Perry which is 160mtrs and there
> would be a case for 80mtrs too but the higher bands are too subject to the
> vagaries of propagation.
[...]
> 
> There is no easy solution, despite suggestions we have seen here some which,
> prima facie,  look as though they could be workable fail  to be viable when given
> further scrutiny. I doubt that CQWW CC can be persuaded to make any changes,
> it is as it is, and, as more than 14,000 of us have been content to enter and
> submit logs in the two events this year showing an ongoing increase year to year
> the CC will feel under no obligation to make any changes.

Thoughts similar to those were in the back of my mind for one of my suggestions earlier in this thread.

To expand on it...

Imagine aggregating CQWW logs from the past several years.  With that body of data, it should be possible to tell how easy/difficult it is for any pair of zones to communicate on a particular band, as well as how rare or common each zone is.

With that information, you could build a scoring matrix.   We would likely see, for example, that intra-European contacts are easy and quite common.  They'd probably be worth one point each.    

Contacts between Zone 5 and Zones 14/15 are still common, but a little more difficult.  Maybe they would be worth 2 points (and perhaps more on 80 and 160).

Contacts between Zones 5 and 12 aren't that difficult, but there are fewer operators in Zone 12.   Maybe they would be worth 3 points.

Contacts between Zone 15 and Zone 34?  That's not too difficult, aside from so few stations being on from Zone 34.  Perhaps rarity would make that a 4 point contact.

Contacts between Zone 5 and Zone 26?  That's a difficult path and involves an uncommon zone.   Maybe that's worth 6 or 7 points....or even 15-20 points if accomplished on 160.

Once you have a scoring matrix, you could implement it as a side/overlay contest concurrent with CQWW.

I doubt that there will be consensus any time soon to radically change any of the major contests.  However, CQ has shown a willingness to stimulate some interest in a couple of otherwise difficult-to-compete classes with their overlays.  So, why not award a couple of plaques and generate a few certificates based on an alternate computation of score?

This concept wouldn't necessarily be "fairer"....but perhaps it might stimulate some additional interest outside the EU/Eastern NA/Zone 9/Zone 33 hub of activity, and/or incent folks to compete from unusual locales.   Having more stations to work is a good thing, right?  :)


-- 
Michael  N1EN