[CQ-Contest] ARRLDX Single Operator Records have been Eliminated!

[kq2m at kq2m.com]

Thanks to K3ZJ for providing the link to the ARRLDXSSB records, and for 
anyone interested,
if you substitute CW for SSB in the web address, you can also see the 
ARRLDXCW records
as well as of 2015.

Regarding what happened with the ARRLDX Single Operator records, no 
assumptions were necessary.
It's pretty clear to me.  This is from the excellent, extended 2022 
ARRLDX Contest write-up of Mark, N5OT
- bottom right of page 2 and continuing on the top right of page 3:

https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2022/DX-CW-2022-FinalFullResults.pdf

"Out with the Old - In with the New"

This year, talk of records would not be complete without discussion of a
major change to the competition. Starting with this event, the Low Power
level was redefined from 150 watts to 100 watts. Going forward,
remember that any new record set in any Low Power category has been
accomplished with less power than was used to set the bar before
now......
Also new for 2022, the Single Operator Single Band Categories were
completely reworked, which in effect retires a number of old records in
categories that no longer exist. Kudos is due to the operators who 
worked
hard for many years to dominate these retired categories. It's notable
that none of the new category records surpassed any of these now-retired
records:
USA / Canada Single Operator Single Band Retired
Records
160 Meters VY2ZM (K1ZM, op) 2020 156,408
80 Meters VY2LZ (K1LZ, op) 2004 356,034
40 Meters W8JI (VE7ZO, op) 2010 804,996
20 Meters KQ2M 2009 766,479
15 Meters K3RV 2015 714,015
2022 ARRL DX CW Full Results - Version 1.1 Page 3 of 23
10 Meters W4ZV 2002 671,632
World Single Operator Single Band Retired Records
160 Meters C6AKQ (N4BP, op) 2009 161,448
80 Meters C6APG (K4PG, op) 2009 277,890
40 Meters FY5KE 2018 394,002
20 Meters FY5KE (F6FVY, op) 2017 442,680
15 Meters FY5KE (F6FVY, op) 2012 478,077
10 Meters CE1/K7CA 2012 435,060

The current breed of single band operators have some distance to make up
on the old guard! You can see the winners of the 72 new categories 
listed
later in the sections for each USA/Canada, and World."

And then on the ARRL Website Contests - International DX Phone Contest

https://contests.arrl.org/records.php?cn=dxph

I note that ALL the Single Band records are from 2022, INCLUDING the 
HIGH POWER SINGLE OP
SINGLE BAND records for both US and WORLD, EVEN THOUGH The High Power 
Category did NOT change
nor was the category eliminated.  Despite that, my high power 20 SB 
record disappeared and was replaced
in 2022 by that of my WRTC partner and very good friend Dan, W7WA who 
had the high power high score
in 2022 SB 20 but nowhere near my 2009 record.  Yet, according to the 
ARRL Contest All-Time Score
Record website W7WA's 2022 score it is now THE SB20 high power record.

That's pretty clear and convincing to me that the ARRLDX Single Op 
records had been
permanently removed.

What I found very amusing and ironic is that some of the guys who were 
telling me that I was
making assumptions were making plenty of assumptions themselves about my 
post to the reflector
and cynically, the level of competence at the ARRL. I guess to these 
folks it does not count as
an assumption if it's your point of view?  Too funny!  :-)

I'm glad that I posted this because:

1) Seemingly few contesters actually noticed that the records had 
disappeared and they were
not happy about it when they discovered it.  While it's not good that 
they didn't notice it before,
IMO it is VERY good that overwhelmingly the feeling is to respect and 
preserve the effort and
the accomplishment of the ops & station owners involved in making those 
records and to honor
and preserve them.

2) It seems to not have been the intention of the ARRL to permanently 
remove the records, rather it
appears, THUS FAR, to be an ongoing poorly communicated and badly 
handled transition,

3) Hopefully it will spotlight what the ARRL can do differently now on 
and for next time to better
communicate the intentions of what they plan to do, and to better plan 
for a smoother and less
ridiculous time lag in doing so.  Seriously!  It's about to be March 
2023 and the transition of the ARRLDX
records STILL has not finished? Decisions on this had to have been made 
months ago or should have
been implemented MANY months ago.  And what about the oversight to 
ensure that the High Power
Single Op records were brought forward on the ARRL DX records website? 
There was ZERO reason to remove
them in the first place since these categories continue AS IS.  And 
SOMEONE at the ARRL should have been
watching to make sure that they were accurate!

4) The ARRL needs some more proactive foresight on their part and the 
part of the contesting community
to make sure that changes to rules, handling records and other important 
things are PROMPTLY and FREQUENTLY
communicated in clearly understood text by those who are in charge; and 
by all available channels:
QST, contest reflectors, ARRL contest reflector, in the text of the 
contest announcement, etc.
And not just ONCE either, but REPEATEDLY!  That was NOT done here and it 
should have been to
avoid all of this confusion.

Tnx & 73

Bob, KQ2M

On 2023-02-26 12:27, K3ZJ David Siddall wrote:

> While ARRL gets this problem sorted, one can try to find records using 
> the
> Wayback Machine.  I found the U.S. records as of 2015.
> The oldest in this subset was 1982, so some records persist for quite a
> while. See: https://tinyurl.com/29k8j5jh.
> 
> 73, Dave K3ZJ