[CQ-Contest] The Rise and Fall of Contesting

[Doug Renwick]

Some good thoughts Hans.

"Stated a little differently, you could say "A competitor was the fellow 
acquired good skills and built a good station.""

A good station helps but as I will show, it is not a guaranteed winner.  I
went to Montserrat in 1983; yes a long time ago with hand logging and no
assistance, to compete in the WPX contest.  Another fellow (American) also
went and had for some years; his call VP2MGQ.  I was renting a station that
Bobby Martin, VP2MO, managed.  I went and checked out the other station.  He
had a TH6 at 50-60 feet.  Since he was entering the all band category, he
suggested I choose a different category.  Well I thought about that but
decided that I came here to compete in the all band and that is what I did.
Now the station I was using only had a A3 at 30 feet.  It would not do well
against the TH6 on 20m or the low bands.  So I knew my strengths and
weakness.  As it turned out with some good planning and some luck, I was
able to maximize my 15 and 10m contacts.  And in doing so, out scored the
other Montserrat station and set a new NA record.  So a better station does
not a guarantee a bigger score. 

Doug

I wasn't born in Saskatchewan, but I got here as soon as I could.

-----Original Message-----

Well reasoned and well stated, Doug.

Regarding your last point ("It's no longer an operator contest, but has 
become a technology contest."), I will take some exception, and use your 
opening statement to frame my comments.

"Many years ago contesting was a competition of an operator and station 
against the world."

Stated a little differently, you could say "A competitor was the fellow 
acquired good skills and built a good station."



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