[CQ-Contest] Sweepstakes (any contest) Change Suggestions

[George Fremin III]

Fellow contesters,

In writing and talking and thinking about the SS in the last few days
I had some thoughts I would like to share.

There were comments on this list - and there were some opinions in the
NCJ about SS.  The ones in the NCJ and many on here focused on the
real or perceived decline in SS activity - or at least in log
submissions - which might be the only easy way to gauge activity or
engagement.

And from that prospective I think you need to look carefully at any
rules changes in the terms of: 

"Will this rule change increase precipitation as measured by log
submissions?"

The goal should be to get more people on the air for longer periods of
time.  It is good for the health of any contest - and maybe of ham
radio in general.

Would X rules change make people more likely spend more time in a
contest and submit a log?  Will it entice make someone that is not
getting on in some test get on and submit a log?

I would submit that in general tweaking the rules of most contests
should not be the default fix for enticing more folks to 
get on the radio.   There are always going to be trade-offs to any 
rules change some of them are not obvious until you change the rule
and see how that change changes peoples behavior in the event.
So I would always tread lightly when making rules changes. 

But I think there are ways to get people on the radio in contests
and to keep them on the air longer.  These have been used over the 
years and are used now in contests of all kinds. 

- Promotion. Those of you on CQ-Contest might know about most contest.
  Most of us know what we will be doing on a given weekend every year.
  But that is not true of the casual ham or the new ham or the ham that 
  just got back on the air.  These are not the folks reading the NCJ
  or CQ Contest and maybe not even reading QST or CQ these days. We need
  to reach them.  We need to promote our events - the ARRL is doing much
  to promote SS or any other contest.  You all need to post  reminders of 
  upcoming contests on your local club email lists or in the newsletter or
  the local ARES net or whatever.  Talk up your favorite contest as a way 
  to use that HF or VHF rig that gets used once a week etc. Tell your friends
  to get on - even if you think they should know about the upcoming contest.
  remind them anyway.

- Local / intra club competition.

- Interesting awards - The stew perry contest has a corner on this
  but learn from them.

- Send out postcards or letters or emails reminding folks to get on
  for a contest.
  The California QSO party has done this over the years and I think that
  helped their growth.  There have been people that have done this 
  for the CW sprint in years past.  

- Write an article for the local news letter or for eham.net about 
  your favorite contest and why folks should get on and try it. 

Get people excited about this ham radio stuff that you love. 

In looking at the SS log submission numbers it is clear that if a few
clubs drive activity it makes log submissions go up and makes scores
go up.  It is hard work - but maybe if we all do it at some level it
will be less hard.

In the SS over the years there have been several things that really
helped activity - one was the ARRL offering some awards - mugs or
brooms for clean sweeps or awards for making at least 100 or some
number of contacts etc.  These of course all came with articles or
announcements in QST and that promotion helped but it was not 
always ongoing - or at the same scale or level as the first year or two.

I think the contest results articles that have been reduced to a few
pages could be better used to promote the upcoming version of the
contest.  Talk more about why it is fun or interesting and less or at
all about Bob winning this year over Tom. I love seeing my name and
call in print as much as anyone but since we do not print the calls of
all in the magazine - why not use that space to advertise our fun.
Perhaps others will join in as a result and get the bug to become as
obsessed with it as we are - and another person will have some
weekends blocked off on their calendars.

It was a resluts article for the 10 meter contest that got me
excited about the next 10 meter contest and caused me to operate
it and submit a log.

-- 
George Fremin III - K5TR
geoiii at kkn.net
http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr