[CQ-Contest] Polar path handicapping

[Stan Zawrotny]

I have been following this discussion with interest. I am a proponent of
leveling the playing field as much as possible.

My concern is with the real world contesting environment. Today's contest
loggers are able to calculate scores as we contest and many are uploading
these scores to on-line scoreboards. I understand that these are only
claimed scores, but everyone wants to at least get a feel how they did
within a few hours/days.

Will the input of current conditions and the calculations to apply them to
an individual's score be such that they can be processed by local
processors, enabling a contester to know his/her score on the fly? Or will
they be too complex and everyone would have to wait weeks/months for the
sponsor to report their scores?

Stan, K4SBZ



On Sun, Mar 22, 2020 at 2:17 PM Bill Mader <billamader at gmail.com> wrote:

> Using distance and propagation factors makes a lot of sense to me to help
> level the contest playing ground.  We do a lot of this in sports car
> racing.  We even insist upon technical inspections when cars that should
> have nearly equivalent capabilities pull way ahead of similar cars.  Yes,
> the driver can make a big difference, but not when entering a straight away
> at the same time and speed.
>
> Distance is easily calculated.  Accounting for it is "easily" done.  Paths
> are a different story as we all know and maybe not love.  Bob, KQ2M, is
> headed in the right direction when considering propagation that affects
> different paths differently.  However, that relies on predictions for
> different paths which we know is often inaccurate and sometimes by large
> amounts.
>
> Consider actual propagation using WSPRLite.  A 200 mW transmitter at each
> participant's location would provide real time accurate data at many WSPR
> receiving sites around the world.  Not being a programmer, but familiar
> with Excel, I think it would be "easy" for a programmer to include WSPR and
> distance data in a scoring algorithm.  It would take someone much smart
> than I to figure out how to add these two factors in scoring a contest.
>
> I've been a proponent for using WSPRLit to give real antenna performance
> comparisons for a couple of years at presentations I've give on the
> subject.  Much to the surprise of many, radio is based on science.  While
> anecdotes are interesting, I prefer data that tell me I need to keep both
> the new and the old antenna but to use the new one as the default.  Why not
> use data on which the majority can agree for scoring one or more contests?
>
> Good luck in the contest and stay healthy!
>
> 73, Bill Mader, K8TE
> ARRL New Mexico Section Manager
> *ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio**™*
> Duke City Hamfest BoD Vice-Chairman www.dukecityhamfest.org 18-20 Sep 2020
> Secretary and Past President, Albuquerque DX Association
> W6H NM Coordinator, Route 66 On-the-Air 4-13 Sep 2020
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