[RTTY] Two sides

[Michael Keane K1MK]

At 10:26 AM 7/24/06, Bill Turner wrote:
>Phil has pointed out the most important thing in the whole discussion.
>
>If and when all contest newbies realizes they can not be competitive
>without a second radio, the death of contesting is not far behind.
>
>Ok, it won't die completely, but it will become an exclusive club of
>hardware-obsessed operators who can and will crush anyone with a more
>modest station. Very few newbies are going to be interested once they
>realize the truth.

Won't the same thing happen (or has happened) when newbies realize 
some of the other "truths" about contesting?

The current instance of the SO1R vs. SO2R debate was kicked off by 
noting that the NAQP high claimed scores from 3830 showed 8 of the 
top 10 (and  12 of the top 25) scores came from SO2R stations. Not 
all that surprising, as in an open competition one should expect the 
most efficient combinations of location, equipment, antenna and 
operating technique to be reflected in higher scores.

On the other hand, nothing at all has been made of the observation 
that 9 of the top ten  (and 15 of the top 25) high claimed scores in 
NAQP are from stations located outside the Eastern time zone. Nothing 
surprising about that "truth"  either. NAQP is a domestic contest and 
in a domestic contest stations from the heartland are expected to 
dominate in the overall results; we'd all expect the situation to be 
reversed in a "DX" contest.

So, where is the place in contesting for those, especially the 
hardware-obsessed operators, who want to seriously compete without 
having to pull up stakes and move?

>I want fun for all, not just a few.

Must fun be synonymous with winning? And if so, winning what?

The goals of increasing participation and participant enjoyment would 
seem better served by adding performance level awards rather than 
adding more categories. And by more extensive score reporting so 
individuals are able to rank their performance against what they 
consider to be comparable competition.

73,
Mike K1MK

Michael Keane K1MK
k1mk at alum.mit.edu