[CQ-Contest] "It's just to save on typing"

[Ria Jairam]

JT modes can do a 13 character exchange so that’s not really a problem.

As for AA DX, I like that one too, but I never send my real age. I just
don’t feel it’s necessary. I just send “00.” What’s amazing is people still
ask for repeats.

73
Ria, N2RJ

On Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 11:23 AM <jamesdavidcain at gmail.com> wrote:

> Nice job, Hans.
>
>
>
> I try to be “unstable” too! I have operated from seven different states
> since 2002. And I’m thinking about moving, again.
>
>
>
> At least in SS the serial number, Precedence, CK, and ARRL/RAC section are
> ALL unknowns. Copy or die.
>
>
>
> A couple of years ago I suggested doing away with 599 and 59 in all contest
> exchanges and got booed “because the signal report is a placeholder.”
>
>
>
> My original post about this was limited to the CK. Some people just don’t
> get the charm of sending the year you were first licensed (the rule means
> your first amateur radio license, not your first U.S. amateur radio
> license,
> not your driver’s license, not your poetic license).
>
>
>
> The All Asia DX Contest has this kind of charm, too, with one’s age as the
> exchange.
>
>
>
> For those who think SS is too slow on Sunday afternoon, I have a contest
> proposal:
>
>
>
> A contest for the weak (inaudible)-signal digital crowd, FT8 or JT
> Whatever,
> that requires a real exchange! A “contact” could take hours.
>
>
>
> K1TN
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
>
> Since I am one of those whose SweepStakes exchange may be unstable from
> year
> to
>
> year, I’ll offer my explanation why.
>
>
>
> You may agree, or you may not agree with my rationale.  No problem to me
> either
>
> way.  It is what it is.
>
>
>
> So here goes.
>
>
>
> It is my conviction that RadioSport contests should measure some skill, and
>
> should reward those radiomen most accomplished in whatever skill is being
>
> measured.
>
>
>
> Different contests are arranged, deliberately or not, to measure different
>
> skills and talents.
>
>
>
> CQWW, as one example, measures a complex skill set which requires a good
>
> radioman to balance high run rates against an effective harvest of
> multipliers,
>
> a fine sense of propagation awareness, and knowing when to defer high run
> rate
>
> on one band in order to harvest fleeting multipliers on a slower band.  The
>
> exchange of information in this contest is quite predictable, and not
>
> challenging to copy.  If you correctly copy the call sign “K0HB” then your
>
> logging program will fill in “59 4”.    In summary, CQWW measures run rate
> and
>
> aggregate multiplier harvest, with less emphasis on copying the content of
> the
>
> exchange.
>
>
>
> SweepStakes has a different emphasis.  Run rate is still of some
> importance,
>
>
> especially early in the contest, but not nearly to the extent as in CQWW.
> The
>
> number of multipliers in SS is miniscule compared to CQWW, only 83 vs
> possible
>
> thousands in CQWW.  In fact, “chasing mults” in SS is a really poor use of
>
> time, since nearly every one except a small handful will fall into your log
> in
>
> the normal course of operating for 24 hours.  So high run rate and
> effective
>
>
> multiplier harvest are NOT skills particularly measured by SS.
>
>
>
> The challenge in SS is the ability to copy a complex exchange.  SS has its
>
> roots in traffic handling (the 5-element exchange mimics the ARRL message
>
> header format).
>
>
>
> In traffic handling, none of those 5 elements are predictable
>
> message-to-message, let alone year-to-year.  They are not “unchanging
> facts”
>
>
>
> If SS is built to measure  the ability to copy a complex and unpredictable
>
> header, then making the exchange “predictable” devalues the very skill set
> we
>
> set out reward.  The more uncertainty we can introduce into the content of
> the
>
> exchange, the better the contest will measure and reward those radiomen
> most
>
>
> skilled in copying complex information accurately.
>
>
>
> My purpose isn’t to confuse you; it is to challenge you to develop the
> skills
>
> required to score high in SweepStakes.
>
>
>
> On the other hand, you may have different fingers.
>
>
>
> 73, de Hans, KØHB
>
> "Just a boy and his radio"™
>
>
>
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