[CQ-Contest] CQWW Madness ,

[Jeff Clarke]

Ed, N1UR - It might be fun for you all in New England but it sure isn't for everyone else. The whole US contesting scene focuses on the east coast and all the sponsors are located there. Do you really think they care about the rest of the US? It's really a fluke if someone outside of NE wins a DX contest. We are an afterthought to them and they will never change the rules to benefit anyone else.

I operate at a pretty good station in DX contests when I'm not in PJ4. This guy has pretty good antennas and I always do a lot of operating at night. We have a 4 square on 80 meters and a nice beam on 40. Plus we use a SAL loop as a receive antenna. Many times I hear guys up in your area working EU stations on the low bands that I don't even hear in GA, despite a pretty good setup. I can't imagine how bad it would be in someplace in the US that I have an advantage over.

You guys in the northeast are blessed. For some reason the laws of nature ( and propagation) favor you big time. There really isn't any contest DX or domestic that someone isn't concentrating on working your area. I mean I even do it in a domestic contest since we have favorable propagation to the east coast from GA on 20 meters and sometimes 15. I work way more east coast stations on 20 in a domestic contest then the rest of the US.

Do you think it's really fair that a G can work a DL for QSO credit but I can't work another US station for any points at all? I mean come on - EU stations working other EU stations isn't DX. It's like Sweepstakes for them. The guys that go to North Africa aren't any further away from EU than I am from you in GA and they get 3 points per QSO for just about every contact.

So here is a proposal for you. Stations in the W1-3 call area get 3 points for working EU. The rest of the US gets 6 points. Now there is no reason this couldn't be done because there is a special rule for NA stations that they get 2 points for NA stations outside their country despite the fact that the rest of the world gets 1 point. Is it any wonder that activity from JA lacks because of this unfair scoring system? I can tell you based on the huge pileups I get from JA outside the contest when in PJ4 that there is plenty of HF activity there. It's just not in contests. Now would DX contests still be fun for you?

For all the reasons I listed above I would never consider building a station where I live specifically for DX contesting. I would feel let down when I would be crushed by some station in New England with much less. I'm pretty much content to focus my serious efforts on domestic contests, make my yearly trip to Bonaire for CQWW and help out my friends who do mult-op efforts in DX contests.

Jeff

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