[CQ-Contest] NAQP CW - Rules Changes Needed

[Mike Smith VE9AA]

I don't know how I would improve very much on what Drew wrote except to
suggest that the rules

of the NAQP are one of the things that attract me to this (and the Stew)
contests.

 

When I've finished, I know that "I" got the score I deserved and no outside
source has presented

the information to me.  ie: I either spun the big knob and decoded the
callsigns by ear or I CQ'd enough that

others found me.  Sometimes I did both at the same time (SO2R)

 

The vast majority of contests now either allow callsign/frequency finding
assistance in a separate category or lump the assisted folks in with the non
assisted folks by not differentiating.

 

Let's not ruin a great contest by changing the spirit of it, like other
contests have done (WPX for example)

 

Mike VE9AA

 

 

If the majority of operators feel the same way about NAQP, then I suppose a 

change would be justified.  My interests do not take priority over others'.


But I'd put a much different spin on the conversation.  The idea is not to 

punitively force assisted into M2, the idea is to have a contest that
generally 

does not use assistance.  I am glad that there are still a few of these
around, 

just like Stew Perry.  There are certainly plenty which include assistance.


Low power and no assistance is what makes this contest different, and for
me, 

fun.

 

"Without assistance, operating becomes a deadly boring sequence of tune,
copy, 

type the call in, be told it's a dupe, and repeat."

 

That sentence really surprised me.  What one describes as boring is to me a 

core skill of contesting.  Doing this quickly *IS* contesting to me, 

particularly in most of my years with much smaller stations.  And it is
still 

easier unassisted with modern logging tools, because one can maintain a 

bandmap.  (I've been surprised to find how many folks don't do this.)

 

I really hope we don't make all contests the same in these regards.

 

73,

Drew K3PA

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB