[CQ-Contest] SSB Sprint - W4ANs View

[Hal Kennedy]

I remembered Bill, W4AN, expressing his dislike for SSB Sprint on this 
reflector more than once.  Here is an excerpt from a February 2004 post, 
under the heading: "Bad Sprint Ideas:"

#4:  Phone Sprint

Dumb contest.  No, wait.  Dumbest contest.

Maybe if it were moved to 15m/20m/40m, and earlier in the day.  Otherwise,
too disruptive.  And, if a contester thinks a contest is too disruptive,
what do you think the non-contesters think?

I can give you recommendations for dumping this contest forever from at
least 5 guys who have won it in the past and who won't operate it again.


That was 10 years ago.  Bill of course was a mostly-CW guy.  I 
personally don't believe SSB Sprint should be dropped if people want it 
enough to participate.  At the moment people don't seem to want it 
enough to participate.  The CD parties were dropped.  There is no "Giant 
Rule-Book in the Sky"  that says once a contest is established it has to 
last forever.  Is it time to pull the plug?

As an aside, we now have the NCCC Sprints once a week.  Yes, they are CW 
(and RTTY).  We also have the weekly CW Ops Mini-tests, which while not 
following the Sprint rules precisely, feel a lot like a Sprint.  That 
makes two a week.  Maybe the community at large is in "Sprint-Overload" 
or has "Sprint-Burnout?"  Most of us, I think, have a hierarchical list 
(held mentally, if not formally written) of what we want to participate 
in.  As the weekly Sprints have come about - they are growing in my 
rank-ordering and forcing other contests below the clip line.  There is 
a clip line since my time for contesting is finite.  SSB Sprint is well 
below my clip line.  I would be an eager participant if it were the 
year's only contest. Given the proliferation of contests (two sprints a 
week!) it is no longer of interest.

73, Hal
N4GG