[CQ-Contest] New Category Suggestion

[ve4xt at mymts.net]

Folks,

Think about what you're saying, please.

Do we expect Novak Djokovic to build his own racquets and practice facility?

Does Nico Rosberg have to change his own oil, hand-build his own sparkplugs or pour the rubber for his tires himself?

Did Teemu Selanne forge his own skate blades? Tiger Woods craft his own clubs? 

Would ANY of these competitors give one inch to a rival who did?

Also, you're asking for special privileges for the rich, by and large. Should we plebes kiss the feet of someone with the millions to drop on a bank of IC-7851s, a field of Rohn 65s, a flock of monobanders, a row of Hewlett-Packards and the perfect piece of propagational paradise on which to install it all, just because he or she also happens to operate it?

The local homebuilders association runs a Parade of Homes each spring and fall, and as part of that, gives out awards for home design and construction. Sounds good so far, right? Well, I had to go to their awards banquet one year and found out the association created so many categories, separated by such fine points of minutiae, that if you could fog a mirror and entered a home, guess what? You won!

Maybe all we need are a thousand new categories. Everybody wins! 

SOABHSROTTY (single op, all band, home station, rig older than 10 years). SOABHSROTTYSLT$10k (single op, all band, home station, rig older than 10 years, spent less than $10k),
 SOABHSRRSMT$100k (single op, all band, home station, recent rig, spent more than $100k)...

Maybe what we should do is leave the field for category a blank line. Make up your own:

SOABHSHBAccCTHBAntBSWS(single op, all band, home station, home brewed accessories (but not rig), climbed towers, home brewed antennas, blue socks with stripes)

Just brace yourself afterward for a whole new slew of whining: but do we really KNOW his rig is older than 10 years? And if he has an older radio, how do we know that's actually the one he used? Can he PROVE he climbed his own towers? Forged his own tower components? Spent less than $10k? Were those socks really blue, or were they teal?

73, kelly, ve4xt 


Sent from my iPad

> On Sep 8, 2016, at 3:23 PM, Jukka Klemola <jpklemola at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Weell .. You know, the station owners had to acquire land and permissions
> to build their stations.
> 
> The just-operators have never had to take the burden and learn skills
> outside operating.
> The just-operators can concentrate at operating.
> 
> The owner-operators have a bunch of skills they have to keep updated plus
> they need a lot of skills to keep the station fit for contests.
> 
> I know some just-operators who cannot even think about investing their time
> into not-operating skills learning or not-operating activities.
> 
> 
> The gap in burden the station owners take is in cat size letters huge.
> The contest of a station owner and a just-operator is as huge.
> The burden the station owner's family accepts is grand .. grand, I tell you.
> 
> To get acceptance from the family is another ballgame the just-operators do
> not really comprehend.
> Some do; to some extent; but most do simply not have a clue what it all
> takes from the families.
> 
> 
> The effort levels differ fundamentally.
> 
> 
> 73,
> Jukka OH6LI
> 
> 2016-09-08 17:46 GMT+03:00 Michael Adams <mda at n1en.org>:
> 
>> I won't repeat the points others have raised in response...but I would
>> like to challenge one assumption -- that operators have an advantage over
>> builder+operators.
>> 
>> In the US, a growing number of hams are living in communities where
>> antennas are severely restricted or prohibited.
>> 
>> In general, I'd think that a person who owns/builds their own home station
>> has a distinct advantage over folks who need to go elsewhere (either
>> physically or via remote control).
>> 
>> In radiosport, there is no perfect, "fair" contest.  Once you accept that,
>> quit stressing, and move on, contests are a lot more fun.  Everybody who
>> gets on and makes as many contacts as they can given their circumstances is
>> a winner.
>> --
>> Michael Adams | mda at n1en.org
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> 
>> There is a clear benefit for the people who only learn how to operate.
>> They have been free from all other burden and they can concentrate to
>> cover only a fraction of skills of the owner+builder operated stations.
>> 
>> Jukka OH6LI
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