[CQ-Contest] Certificates for ARRL DX - a great motivator for new contesters

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

Sorry Mike, I disagree.

If someone does not wish a cert mailed, that's fine.  Use the CERTIFICATES NO option then, it's easy enough to implement.

But given the relatively small cost of mailing out a few certs, I don't see a major cost savings by dropping them.

It may seem otherwise to the grizzled veterans on this reflector, but outside of this realm, I think you'll find more than a few souls who would be happy to keep getting those certs.  

Now even so, it should be easy enough to implement a "reprint" option for those who wish to download a cert, be it from a current contest or an old one.  I don't see an issue with enabling an option to do so.  But not as an "either/or" situation.

As the young whippersnapper said to Dottie Henson, "Can't we do both?"

73, ron w3wn

-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2018 6:46 PM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Certificates for ARRL DX - a great motivator for new contesters

Other than plaques the ARRL needs to go to a download your award system like CQ.  This would eliminate the need for a Certificates NO.

For marketing purposes I can see sending out certs to new people, but someone would have to stay on top of that and I don't see that happening.

I was actually surprised that when I go to my account on the ARRL that I am not able to download previous certificates.

W0MU



On 4/4/2018 3:31 PM, Jim Stahl via CQ-Contest wrote:
> Printed certificates do matter to experienced contesters; they are a 
> waste of the ARRL’s money. I’d rather have that money go to something 
> more useful like spectrum defense or RFI mitigation, than spending 
> over a dollar to send me a certificate saying I was the top low power 
> all band section award winner in a VHF contest. (I think they even 
> send those certificates to those who merely had the high score on a 
> single band.)
>
> ARRL ought to adopt support of the Cabrillo "CERTIFICATES: NO” tag.  I’ve suggested this to my division director, who seemed receptive. But apparently at the last Board meeting there was too much other stuff going on.
>
>
> 73  -  Jim   K8MR
>
>
>
>> On Apr 4, 2018, at 10:21 AM, rjairam at gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> I know that some contest sponsors have done away with printed 
>> certificates to cut costs, and this is understandable. I have no 
>> problem with keeping it sustainable.
>>
>> But I would just like to point out that I have seen quite a few 
>> people on social media sharing unexpected ARRL DX certificates. These 
>> are usually single op, low power entrants who decided to sit at the 
>> radio and work the contest even though they have zero chance of 
>> winning one of the big prizes. Some are even encouraged to try even 
>> harder and get into contesting more.
>>
>> I think if possible, at least for first time entries that contest 
>> sponsors should look to get the certificates to encourage these 
>> contesters. There is nothing like finding out that you did well 
>> enough to win *something* to encourage you into diving deeper into 
>> contesting. Online certifiicates are nice but there is nothing like 
>> opening the mailbox and finding a real certificate. This isn't really 
>> a participation trophy - these folks topped their section, or maybe 
>> earned a single band award. IARU also gives for 250 QSOs, which was 
>> my initial motivator for participating in the IARU contest and why it 
>> holds a special place for me.
>>
>> For experienced contesters like myself and others, printed 
>> certificates really don't matter - we go for the big awards or even 
>> just our callsign in the results column. So for us we can mostly opt 
>> out. But I think for the newcomers it is important,
>>
>> 73
>> Ria, N2RJ
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