[CQ-Contest] WRTC-2014 Selection Areas

[Martin , LU5DX]

This is a great and solid explanation and I truly believe it is the
foundation for the overall great quality of operators (both TLs and TMs)
for WRTC 2014.
I think there is a very positive trend in the outlining of WRTC rules: the
best from the preceding event seems to be included in the rules of the
upcoming ones.
For instance, in Russia, all the stations were identically equipped in
terms of aerials and terrain profile. It was amazing to monitor the
stations and see that signal levels were almost identical.
The selection criteria has been improved in several aspects.
To me  the only exception being the distinction between SOAB and SOAB(A) in
detriment of SOAB(A) against not only SOAB but also MS, SOAB LP, and
equaling it to MS LP, M2 and even MM!!
It seems as though WRTC considers SOAB and MS ops with better qualities
than SOAB. Even a part time SOAB with a third or even a quarter of the
score can beat a SOAB(A) who stuck his a** to the chair for 48 hours
straight and even beat some MSs in terms of score.
Not to mention this distinction, considering it's a race for something so
valuable as a spot among the selected operators for the Olympics of Amateur
Radio, only makes more room for cheaters to cheat.
Hopefully this was not the case, but I dare anyone to solidly prove it. No
one can.
So for the sake of the true spirit of WRTC, lets be innovative and
creative. Just don't stick to the "Just a boy and his radio approach"
because that simply is something retrogressive in essence. And here we are
not talking about a simple contest. We are talking about the OLYMPICS of
AMATEUR RADIO.

Another really bad thing that happened, was category hopping from
competitors to avoid fighting in the same entry class as their competitors
at their convenience. It was really sad to see that.

WRTCers must be selected by their individual skills, so it's really hard to
understand how a member of an  MS, or a part timer can score more than a
full all out, 5 days off the job, months training to stay away effort. I
simply don't get it.

You tried to explain that to me Dan, but if you have a better explanation
that whan you said to me over a year ago, I would be more than willing to
know.

Best regards to all and I'm sure we all have a blast in WRTC 2014.

Vy 73.

Martin, LU5DX


On Sat, Oct 19, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Dan Street <danstreet599 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Given the recent flurry of postings, I want to present some additional
> facts...
>
> 1)  This is the first WRTC that divided the geographical lines so finely as
> to allow W0s to compete with only other W0s.  In the past, W0s have
> competed with at least the W5s (and guess who emerged on top).  So we
> thought we were doing something that W0s would appreciate.  Same for
> southern OC, SE AF, and countless other examples.  It's a lot of extra work
> to do so, thus future WRTC organizers might not be so precise.
>
> 2)  The activity generated by such clubs as the MWA and Grand Mesa led to
> enough logs being submitted in major contests that we thought W0 deserved a
> Team Leader slot at all.  Clubs are a great catalyst to boosting contest
> activity.
>
> 3)  In WRTC-2010, one Team Leader was unable to find a Team Mate in his own
> Selection Area and had to drop out as a result.  We chose to open up the
> selection to anyone anywhere in order to prevent such a scenario for 2014.
> Only a handful of TLs chose a TM outside their Selection Area, despite the
> much deeper pool of possible TMs that they could have chosen from.
>
> 4)  Specifically, Alex, KU1CW did well to honor his NA-10 group by first
> choosing another W0.  However, when that individual declined the
> invitation, Alex expanded his search.  Can you fault him for selecting his
> cousin, a guy who almost qualified for a TL slot in EU1?  It's easy to
> criticize someone without knowing the facts.
>
> 5)  Just to clarify for the casual reader, entrants in major contests had
> their scores only compared against scores in their own Selection Area.  So,
> making the Top Ten World is completely irrelevant to the calculation.
> Dividing the world into more Selection Areas than ever before gave more
> operators a chance than ever before.
>
> We have a very strong field of competitors for 2014, so the selection
> criteria must have worked to some small degree.  If the criteria weren't
> perfect, then we wish the next organizers well in getting closer to
> perfection.
>
> 73, Dan, K1TO
> Director, WRTC-2014
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