[CQ-Contest] Observations of a young ham

[Joe]

On 12/20/2016 11:27 PM, Wes Jennings wrote:

I like that idea of a contest also.

But my absolute favorite beginner contest was the "Novice Roundup"

NOT the New incarnation, I HATE IT! And by the level of participation it 
has experienced so does the Amateur community.

look at the level of participation, it now has, compared to what someone 
that was restricted to CW only, even crystal controlled only, etc. back 
in dem old days. In those old days to win a state you had to make 
hundreds of contacts! Now with this new contest, there are many states 
where if you make one contact you would win an take first palce!

  The Classic version from like the 70's was AWESOME!! You had this HUGE 
window of time to operate, But little actual time. You learned about 
propagation, and time management because you had a Nine day operating 
window, ( 216 Hours ) But could not operate more than 24.

You had to think, When is the best time to get on? 3 AM on a Tuesday? or 
Saturday afternoon at 3 PM?

You have a large block of un worked multipliers in 7 land. When will 
propagation on what band be best to that area so you can try to get some 
of them?

Plus with a Nine day window, There was no excuse for 99% of the people 
entering to be able to get the full 24 hours used up.

The only Change I'd make to that old classic to bring it up to date is 
make Three entry classes.

Traditional Novice,
Where the person operating has had their license less than two years.  
Kind of takes the spin of the old Novice license, where it lasted two 
years and was NOT renewable.

Contest Newbie,
Where anyone can be in this class, be they licensed for six days or 
sixty years. But, To qualify for this class, you can only enter it for 
two years consecutively.  Again a Spin on the old 2 year Novice License.

Veteran,
This class would be for everyone else. The old Novice Roundup, and the 
New Rookie Roundup missed this one. They always encouraged us contest 
veterans to go and work the newbies. But all we ever were was checklogs. 
I'd say make us a class also. With one Restriction, We can ONLY work the 
other two classes. But still be a competition for us too. This would be 
amazing for US and imagine the newbies being the stations looked for. It 
would give a lot of incentive for them to do something that few try. Set 
up and "RUN" a frequency.  Yet us old-timers have a contest in it too.

Thoughts?

Joe WB9SBD


> Ok Gerry,
>
> one of the thoughts is to create a new contest where it is a elmer and a rookie
>
> Rookie operates and 3 modes are used in blocks of 4 hrs each .
>
> SSB
>
> CW
>
> RTTY
>
> the elmer is there to assist but not to operate the radio but help with spotting and searching.