[CQ-Contest] Contest Idea

Sat Apr 8 19:37:42 EDT 2017

Its a tough slog if you want to devise a contest that is predicated 
solely upon an existing format. Big stations who make it 44 or 48 hours 
are almost always going to win.

If you want to change things up for DXers and contesters who want to 
drive hard, my recommendation would be to operate within the confines of 
an existing contest and do four-hour "challenges" to be entered by only 
contestants within a specific CQ zone - competing against competitors 
within that CQ zone.  So, for zone 3 guys, set up two four hour windows 
on Sunday - one in the morning and one in the evening.  Same for guys in 
zone 15 for their morning and evenings.  Create a different rule set - 
maybe based on distance plus DXCC entities worked.

Just one idea bounced off the wall.

73 Rich NN3W

On 4/7/2017 8:51 PM, Mark wrote:
> Hi Randy et al
>
> The various comments have made interesting reading.  If I may add some
> thoughts.
>
> Firstly I think people might go on small Dxpeditions to activate semi rare
> entities.  This already happens in the Commonwealth contest where one of
> the highlights are the "travelers" who activate semi rare entities for the
> rest of us to work. It is great fun chasing them around the bands.  This
> may be an attraction for the rate guys who aren't that interested in DXing
> but love being on the end of a pile up.
>
> An emphasis on countries and zones will level the playing field somewhat as
> it will make people turn their beams to parts of the world they may not
> ordinarily do so. Likewise people in some parts of the world who don't
> bother to do contests because they have no chance of competing may look at
> this as a fun alternative. It will also force people to think like DX.
>
> I  can see assisted and unassisted categories which will be interesting in
> itself. I suspect most DXers use assistance of some sort so there may not
> be the demarcation you see in ordinary contests.
>
> One other observation. There is a lot of time spent on this forum talking
> about innovation in terms of operating aids but precious little in terms of
> contesting rules scoring or objectives.  If it is to survive in the long
> term I think it needs to look at the latter.
>
> 73
> Mark ZL3AB
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, 7 Apr 2017 at 12:03, Randy Thompson K5ZD <k5zd at charter.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> I spent a lot of time thinking about something like this when I was Director
> of the CQWW.  I know there are a lot of DXers out there who operate the
> contest just to chase countries.  Always wondered if there would be interest
> in a "DXer" competition where the winner would have the highest total
> countries + zones.  I balked on doing something because it seemed like the
> top mults always went to the serious guys who made the most QSOs.  Never
> found a good way to put the emphasis more on DX chasing.  Perhaps a combined
> total for SSB and CW would help.
>
> Didn't see much discussion on this, but wanted to add some support for the
> idea.
>
> Randy, K5ZD
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
>> Mark
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2017 9:23 PM
>> To: CQ-Contest at contesting.com
>> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Contest Idea
>>
>> A few days ago there were some comments around contests and rules you
>> would like to see.  So here is one idea.
>>
>> At the moment CQ has a DX Marathon that runs for a year.  I have been
>> thinking what would happen if there was a version that was run over 48
>> hours?  As with the Marathon the object would be to work as many
>> countries and zones as you could but unlike the CQ WW (for example) the
>> number of QSOs you make is irrelevant.  You could utilise the categories
>> in the existing CQ WW contests e.g. single op single band or all band,
>> assisted, unassisted, multi op etc.  The exchange would be report and CQ
>> Zone (the latter largely so you know what zone the person is in so you
>> can claim it).  Ties would be broken by looking at who worked their last
>> country/zone the earliest.
>>
>> Unlike the CQ WW which is largely a rate contest, this would be a
>> strategy contest i.e. you would have to figure out how to maximise your
>> country and zone count.  When do you call CQ? Should you S&P instead?
>> Which way should I turn my beam and when?  Of course you may end up
>> working a number of stations who do not count because you have already
>> worked someone in that region (but who you should log regardless), but
>> that might be the price worth paying to work for example that rare zone
>> guy who you have heard and who does not like pile ups.
>>
>> This sort of format might also encourage non-contesters (i.e DXers) to
>> have a go and from there if they like it a few more may turn up in the
>> more regular type contests.  Any QSO would also count towards the annual
>> DX marathon so a lot of those guys would probably turn up looking for new
>> countries.
>>
>> Issues to be considered would be modes and bands.  As a competition it
>> should probably be restricted to the non-WARC bands although of course
>> the annual DX Marathon covers all bands.  Presumably any mode should
>> count i.e.
>> CW SSB and digital which would certainly spread the participants out and
>> the entry categories should reflect that.
>>
>> Log checking should in theory be easier as you only have to worry about
>> QSOs that were new countries and Zones for an entrant.
>>
>> To avoid a cluttered contest calendar perhaps it could be run each year
>> on a weekend which crosses two months.  This year for example would be
>> September 30 and October 1.  That would add an additional element of
>> changing the seasonal propagation so you may need to think of a new
>> strategy each time.
>>
>> If you want to get an idea of what an outcome may look like, have a look
>> at the CQ WW results database and sort a category by countries worked.
>> It is quite interesting.
>>
>> 73
>> Mark ZL3AB (flameproof jacket suitably donned)
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