[CQ-Contest] Why ARRL SSB Contest is Not My Favorite

[John Laney]

For one or two years in the 1970s, the ARRL International DX Contests 
had a change in  the rules to permit everyone overseas to contact each 
other too.  There was much dissatisfaction with it from W/VE stations 
because it resulted in many more DX stations working each other and 
ignoring the weaker W/VE stations even when the bands were open for 
working W/VE areas.  Think of the former time for beginning the CQ 160 
CW contest at 00Z and all the Eu stations were loud in NA but couldn'g 
hear the NA callers because they were too busy working other loud 
European stations.  So the rule was changed back.

For a while in the 70s or 80s, we also had high band (10, 15, 20) and 
low band (40, 80, 160) categories. That may have been before we had 
single band categories.

The best change made since I started working the contests in 1956 was 
doing away with the quota system which allowed only a small number of 
QSOs by US stations with any given DX country.  This meant that many of 
the smaller DX stations had to be or were ignored by the big US stations 
because they wouldn't count for points.  It basically discouraged 
operation in populous DX contries except by the top stations and even 
they couldn't work a W/VE station for credit after the quota had been 
reached by the W/VE station.

73, John, K4BAI.