[CQ-Contest] It's not the sunspots folks

[Jeff Clarke]

/N//1UR Wrote:/

/The point of CQ WW DX - That's "World Wide DX"- is to seek out and work 
DX. Its not to fill up the log with domestic /Qs.  There are plenty of contests
all year long to do that.

Ed,

The phase "Worldwide DX Contest" doesn't really apply to those in the USA. If it did we could work anyone. For someone in the US a "DX contact" is usually looked
at as working a country outside of W/K and VE. Many people who are entering as casual entries (i.e. DXer's) aren't really trying to get a high score. They are just trying to work what we consider DX.

You also need to consider that CQWW isn't really looked at that way from someone who is a serious competitor in one of the counties that borders EU or even a station in EU. It's all about maximizing points and the number of multipliers you can work. A station on one of the continental boundaries with EU - for example a station in CN, TA or 5B isn't going to make it a priority to work W/K stations until their rate drops to EU. Why try to pull out a station in the US when they can
work stations for 3 points that are basically the same distance away that we are used to in a domestic contest like SS or NAQP. Plus they don't have a bunch of possible multipliers they can work if they are concentrating on North America. Same goes for a station in Europe if they can work 1 point QSO's at a high rate.

The rules aren't really fair for serious competitors in the USA and it's even worse for those in the eastern part of Asia. Because Europe is made up geographically separate countries that are closely grouped together I guess when they work each other that's considered DX ? Consider this : The United States covers an area that is 2 1/2 times larger than Europe. Plus CQ uses the WAE country list that consists of 73 countries in Europe. Even if we were given 1 point per QSO for contacts between W/K stations I don't know if you could erase that multiplier advantage (especially on 160 and 80 meters) which are a "chip shot" for those in EU.

You being in New England maybe you've experienced this scenario on 160 or 80 meters like I do when I'm doing the contest in PJ4... I'm on the the multiplier station tuning the band and I come across a multiplier in EU that I need. But I can't get thru because that station is running other EU stations. I call and call but give up in frustration. Now I'm really a DX station for them and probably a new multiplier as well. But they miss out because they are totally concentrating on working stations local to them.

I'm not really sure what the fix to this problem is. Maybe use the WPX contest scoring system? Or only let EU stations work each other for multiplier credit and zero points?

Jeff / KU8E





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