[CQ-Contest] Clean Sweep - a short history

[Hans Brakob]

Jeff and all,

The creation of new sections by ARRL (or RAC) is not driven by the contest community.  Usually it is driven by a desire of the broad membership to gain better “localization” in the organization.  A new mult for the contesters is only a side effect.

Regarding the theme of “consistency”, every contest has different roots.  SS was created by traffic handlers.  The exchange was modeled after the ARRL message header which includes “Section of Origin”, thus SEC became the multiplier.  Regarding the mults in other ARRL contests, well, “on the other hand you have different fingers” designing the competition.

Your comment about the size of the Minnesota section is interesting.  At one point there were 4 Sections in the Dakota Division.  North Dakota, South Dakota, Northern Minnesota, and Southern Minnesota.  Some years ago, the two MN sections were combined to a single MN section, and an SS multiplier was lost.  I don’t know the reason for that combining, but from time-to-time we hear sentiment for splitting MINNESOTA into two sections, “Metro MN” and “Outstate MN”, not for any reason that affects contesting directly, but because the “outstate” general membership feels that Section policy is dominated by the metro hams at the expense of rural hams.

Should that split ever occur, a byproduct would be that a ham in the little town of Resume Speed, MN would be more popular than a guy in Minneapolis.  So goes it.



73, de Hans, KØHB
“Just a Boy and his Radio”

________________________________
From: ku8e <ku8e at ku8e.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 4, 2020 10:33 AM
To: Hans Brakob; CQ-Contest
Subject: RE: [CQ-Contest] Clean Sweep - a short history

Hans,

Something you left out is creating some of these new sections gives people who reside there a competitive advantage. Take for example NNY. New York is one of the most populous states in the country but that part of the state is less populated which probably means less hams. If someone gets on from a section like that they get big pileups of stations trying to work them. There are lots of people whose only goal is to only work a sweep in Sweepstakes.  So if you live in a highly populated section like EPA or MDC those stations might not work you.

Like many others mentioned the ARRL is very inconsistent how they choose sections. I made an argument in another post that maybe Georgia, where I live, should be split into two sections. We have the 8th largest population in the US. Many might not realize that Georgia has the largest land mass of any state east of the Mississippi. You could also make an argument for Minnesota, where you live. Your number 21 in population but are 14th in land mass. That means MN is bigger than states like WA, NY, MA, PA and NJ that have multiple sections. Texas has only three sections and is the biggest state on the US mainland plus number two in population. California in comparison has NINE sections. Florida like Texas has three sections but it's population is almost 8 million less and it's land mass is smaller. Just too many inconsistencies in my opinion

Jeff





Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone


-------- Original message --------
From: Hans Brakob <kzerohb at gmail.com>
Date: 1/4/20 10:16 AM (GMT-05:00)
To: CQ-Contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Clean Sweep - a short history

There is discussion in another thread over a new Section in RAC which results in a new mult in ARRL’s November SS weekends.

The reason for this linkage seems not well understood by some.

This linkage stems from the fact that Canada, up until about 40 years ago, was a Division of ARRL, with a Division Director and was subdivided into Sections just like other Divisions.  Just like some USA sections sometimes do not encompass a full state/territory (several states consist of more than one section) or a single state/territory (PAC division consists of a state, a territory, and some other possessions), not all Canadian sections are a complete province (think ON) or encompass more than a single province/territory (think VE8/VY1/Et al).

Since SS has always used Sections as mults, and since CRRL/RAC continues to be organized by Section, then a new Section in either ARRL or in RAC will generate a new mult in November SS.

And all of that aside, why would a contester have angst over more multipliers and the obvious opportunity for higher scores?

73, de Hans, KØHB
“Just a Boy and his Radio”
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