[CQ-Contest] The two/four-point rule in WPX

Kim Östman kim.ostman at tut.fi
Wed Apr 9 00:41:29 EDT 2014


Dear Mike,

> We are playing under the same rules.

If station A gets 5000 points and station B gets 2500 points for the same
number of next-door out-of-country QSOs within their own continent, they are
BY DEFINITION not playing under the same rules.

> Would you prefer less participation from the USA?

I don't see the relevance of this point. Ed N1UR spelled it out nicely and I
agree: the 2/4 point exception is for all practical purposes meaningless for
U.S. stations.

> You just don't like certain portions of the rules. Right?

I don't like an exception to the rules that privileges only a select few,
and I've made this point ad nauseam by now. If a contest sponsor goes down
the road of rules exceptions to "fix" a bigger problem, then there should be
a suitable exception for everybody. Otherwise they need to be removed.

I participate in contests from OH because it's fun, and I have no illusions
about placing well from here. This is a consequence of our difficult
geographical/geomagnetic location and the continental-divide scoring system.
But I certainly don't lobby for special scoring exceptions to be
given/maintained for OH, or threaten to withdraw participation if that
doesn't happen.

73
Kim OH6KZP


  On 4/8/2014 12:13 PM, Kim Östman wrote:
> Hi Ed,
>
> Thanks for putting thought into this! A few comments:
>
>> This whole issue is really just about Carib and VE and KL7 stations
>> since the change of 1 vs 2 points for USA stations is not material
>> since there just are not enough Carib and VE sand KL7 tations to
>> work to matter.  For the Carib and VE and KL7  stations it does
>> matter that every US station is 2 points or 4 points vs half that value.
> I completely agree.
>
>
>> NA and SA are hardly dominating this contest despite the rules discussed.
> Please consider also the numbers I posted for 2005-2013. But in any case,
> NA/SA dominance is not my point. My point is that some NA stations are
> unfairly favored through an exception to the rules, instead of everybody
> playing with the same fair-play rules and simply accepting the
consequences
> of location.
>
>   
>> Yes, if a competitive Carib station shows up, EU will not beat them.  But
> is
>> there a DX contest where EU would ever beat a competitive Carib station?
> Yes. For the most recent example that sparked this thread, you can take a
> look at this year's WPX SSB SOAB HP top-3 on 3830 and consider the effect
of
> the NA 2/4 vs. SA+EU 1/3 QSO-point exception.
>
>
>> Like us in the US, the competition in EU should be about EU.
> If the competition in NA should then similarly be about NA, why is there a
> rules exception that favors certain NA stations?
>
>
>> The World competition is about desired mult and DX country
> locations.always has
>> been always will be.  And this is not a US issue whatsoever.  That rule
>> difference would be lost in the rounding on my score.  It is a big impact
> on
>> Carib stations.  But there or not, for most categories, its not going to
>> insure EU winning the category.
> I agree about location. However, my point is not about ensuring that EU or
> anybody wins anything, it's about enabling fair competition through fair
> play.
>
> I mean, this is really simple: Everybody should play under the same rules,
> and if that means the continental divides, then just accept the
> consequences, i.e., you can only win from certain locations.
>
> Personally, I'm fine losing to a northern AF 3-point station if I'm
working
> from 1-point southern EU. I accept that I have no chance whatsoever here
> from OH land. It's OK because it affects everybody the same, and that is
the
> essence of fair play.
>
> => BUT, if the contest sponsor thinks the continental divide is unfair,
what
> kind of logic makes it OK to attempt a "fix" by favoring just a few NA
> stations and screwing others over by doing so?
>
> 73
> Kim OH6KZP



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