[CQ-Contest] CQ'ing for Dollars

[David Gilbert]

As usual, I find myself agreeing with Kelly.  I don't think that W2CSI's 
proposal is as fundamentally insidious as Hans makes it out to be.  I 
don't think it would do a thing to promote more contest participation, 
however, but it might make things a bit more interesting amongst those 
who do participate.

As far as leveling out the playing field, there are potentially simple 
ways to partially do that.  W2CSI proposed handing out ten rigs as 
prizes to the top ten overall ... those could instead be divided up as a 
prize to the winner of ten different geographical regions.  Taking it 
further, the geographical prize could go to the winner of a raffle 
amongst the top five or top ten from each region.

The biggest downside I foresee for something like this is that now we'd 
have some pretty serious incentive to cheat, and a lot more probability 
of it happening.  Cheating is far more likely to occur the greater the 
stakes and the less the visibility into its occurrence.  That would 
probably be my greatest objection to W2CSI's proposal.

By the way, I'm not even sure it would take a separate contest with it's 
own entry fee to do something like this.  W2CSI could conceivably sell 
tickets to folks who plan to participate in any major contest and then 
hand out the rigs per the possibilities above.  I suspect that would be 
legal on his part as long as it wasn't a money-making proposition for 
him, and it would probably be legal even if it made money for a 
non-profit group like the WWROF.

Just musing out loud ...

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 6/5/2015 6:04 AM, Kelly Taylor wrote:
> I'm not entirely sure that attaching a raffle to a radio contest turns us
> into professional radio operators any more than playing Texas Hold-em at the
> local Oddfellows Lodge turns people into Daniel Negreanu.
>
> But... While I might disagree with Hans on the reasoning, I'm not sure I
> disagree with him on the overall idea of "hurling it aside with great
> force."
>
> It is one thing to tell the 90 per cent of us who don't live on the Atlantic
> Rim "it's just for fun, compete among your peers" while the K1s and PJ4s and
> EA8s rack up win after win when the only thing at stake is fleeting bragging
> rights and an overpriced hunk of walnut. It is quite another to tell people
> "Please pay to enter my contest, but know that you'll only win one of the
> radios if you're lucky enough to be geographically blessed."
>
> Without some kind of handicapping system to even out geographic disparity, I
> suspect the response of most hams outside the blessed zones would be words
> unsuitable for a family venue such as CQ-contest. And I suspect the
> operators who did pay would, and perhaps should, be ignored by the rest of
> us.
>
> Now, if you had a sponsor and didn't have an entry fee, then I wouldn't see
> this as any different from when the Bermuda QSO Party awarded a trip to
> Bermuda to the winner.
>
> 73, kelly
> ve4xt
>
>
>
>
> On 6/4/15 7:44 PM, "Radio K0HB" <kzerohb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This idea should not be tossed aside lightly.
> It should be hurled aside with
>> great force.
> We are Radio Amateurs (not Radio Pros), just a bunch of boys and
>> girls
> playing exuberantly in the ether, in sort of a worldwide "National Park
>> of
> the Airwaves".
>
> If you want to play radio for pay, join the Navy and go to
>> sea on a
> destroyer as a Radioman.  Don't pollute Amateur Radio with "CQ for
>> Dollars".
>
> 73, de Hans, K0HB
> --
> "Just a boy and his radio"
> --
> Proud Member
>> of:
> . ARRL - http://www.arrl.org
> . RSGB - http://www.rsgb.org
> . A1 Operators -
>> http://www.arrl.org/a-1-op
> . Minnesota Wireless contesters -
>> http://www.W0AA.org
> . Arizona Outlaws contesters -
>> http://www.arizonaoutlaws.net
> . Twin City DX Assn - http://www.tcdxa.org
> .
>> Minnesota Amateur Radio Technical Society - http://www.mn-arts.org/
> . Lake
>> Vermilion DX Assn - http://www.lvdxa.org
> . Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society -
>> http://www.rnars.org.uk/
> . SOC - http://www.qsl.net/soc
> . CW Operators Club ­
>> http://www.cwops.org
> . SKCC - http://www.skccgroup.com/
> --
>
> -----Original
>> Message-----
> From: ncphotos at gmail.com
> Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2015 8:12
>> PM
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] CQ-Contest Digest,
>> Vol 150, Issue 6
> Would anyone be interested in a contest that you had to pay
>> a $20 entry fee?
> I am still working on the rules.
> 1-10 place would get a HF
>> radio for there prize as long as I get enough
> operators enter the contest to
>> cover the cost of the prizes it should
>> work.
>
> Charles,
> W2CSI,
> W2CSI.com
>
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE
>> Smartphone
>
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