[CQ-Contest] CQ-Contest Digest, Vol 179, Issue 21

[RT Clay]

> One thing that I wonder - why does SS start so late on Saturday? It's 2 PM Pacific and 5 PM Eastern, which leads
> to a Sunday eve/night finish for most  folks. If it started 3 or 4 hours earlier, not only would it be more "prime
> time" both days, but we'd all probably enjoy the extra three hours of propagation on 20 M (and maybe 15) at
> the start. This seems like an easy, non-controversial change that will make  the final few hours of the contest
> more user-friendly for almost everyone.
 

NO. This will just increase the already large advantage of being out west. While 15m Sweepstakes propagation might be enjoyable to stations out west, if you live in the east coast or midwest it is not. From here for example in northern MS, normally my skip zone on 15m extends all the way to about W1/CT. There is no way for eastern stations to work other SS participants in the eastern half of the country on 15/10. If any of these stations are also not on the low bands, we have no way to work them at all. Shifting the times earlier and removing the after sunset time on Sunday will give even less incentive for eastern stations to get on.

I don't know if this was the original intent, but with 30 total hours, the start and finish times of SS are such that a location in the middle of the country gets roughly equal amounts of daytime and nightime during the contest.

Tor
N4OGW