[CQ-Contest] Why some Caribean Islands compete as South America at CQWW

[Tom Georgens]

I appreciate the kind words in  these posts, but would rather this thread
not be about me.

Simply, I just try my best, but would not claim to be the best

To the subject at hand, creating a balanced playing field on scoring is
close to impossible.  Every QTH has its plusses and minuses.  8P is about
1500 miles from Miami and further from the US radio population centers than
parts of Zones 9 and 10.  It is also very far east and not as good day/night
alignment with the US for the ARRL contests.  OTOH - It has great
propagation to Europe and better high band propagation to the US than the
northern Caribbean as the sunspots decline.   In the end, this is where I
chose to operate and I live with the good and bad.  I also realize that most
people do not get to choose where they operate.  I further  realize that the
Caribbean get special points treatment that the rest of the world does not
get

While there are too many variables to balance to create a level playing
field, I do think it is unfortunate that the WPX and WW (CW and SSB) use
largely the same points scheme.  Whatever areas are disadvantaged, are
similarly disadvantaged in both contests.  It would be interesting of one of
them, likely WPX, moved to a more innovative scoring system, maybe distance
based.  Surely, this will create unfairness of its own,  perhaps more so,
but it may give opportunities for certain geographies to compete globally in
a major contest.

Since global scoring fairness is likely impossible, competition will always
have a strong regional component.  In the end, it is about building the best
station you can, operating it to the best of your ability and measuring
yourself against your regional competitors.

As for 8P, I think there was a time when it actually was considered South
America.  If only ...

73, Tom W2SC 8P5A 
 Still a little tired from CQWW SSB


-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
john at kk9a.com
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2015 4:59 AM
To: Helmut Mueller
Cc: john at kk9a.com; 'Fernando PY2LED'; cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Why some Caribean Islands compete as South America
at CQWW

I agree with DF7ZS.

It takes a tremendous effort to build and maintain a station in the
Caribbean. The tower and antenna corrosion is unbelievable, especially
where dissimilar metals touch. Most station owners are absentee owners who
have little free time to keep things working. Fortunately a little goes a
long way when near the sea and you can be very competitive with a modest
station. Low band conditions are much worse in zone 9 than in zone 8 so to
some degree more points are justified. There are better and worse places
to operate a CQ contest but what fun would this be if everyone was at D4,
CN or EA8?

W2SC consistently does a fantastic job from 8P5A. Tom is a great guy who
has shared much information with me about his operations. However, I would
not use the word best since there are a number of super-ops, especially in
CQWW contests.

John KK9A

On Fri, November 6, 2015 3:59 am, Helmut Mueller wrote:
> Hi @ ALL.
>
>
> Why does P4, PJ2 and PJ4 count to south America? Well a look at a map
> could help to solve this mystery. :)
>
> Yes, it might be an advantage operating from there, but maybe not.
> It is a big effort to build huge superstations, but should it be
> sanctioned? No, big effort make things change. It is also a big effort to
> create and maintain stations on Caribbean islands. Should it be
> sanctioned? NO! And again ... this helped winning for a while.
>
> Look at 8P5A (Tom W2SC) ... he belongs to North America, and has a
> tactical points disadvantage over SA Islands and he wins it anyway ...
> year after year!!! To me Tom is the best operator I know in the world and
> he is in the perfect location. Want to sanction this?
>
> Conclusion:  Now we are building TOP super stations on tactical well
> selected locations, Morocco for example. CN2R, CN3A and lately CN2AA.
> CN2AA has more than double points to claimed place #2. Should we sanction
> that? I think NO. Thats the normal evolution.
>
> 1985 you could will M/M with 21.9 M Points ... 2015 you need 75 MIO!
>
>
> Do I have a "neutral" view on that? NO .... I operated 7x from
> P4/PJ2/PJ4. And 10x from CT3. I can tell you it is not easy keeping the
> station on CT3 up and running and competitive. We are playing with old
> worn out amps and beaten up TH6 Beams. Its just a question of time
> someone wants to build a superstation there!
>
> 73
>
>
> Helmut
>
>

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