[RTTY] CQ-Contest SO2R (Longish, but (I think) Scintillating)

[Chris Plumblee]

First off, I feel like I should say that I never intended to be so
active posting on this subject.

That said, I had an epiphany at work today while I was woolgathering
rather than working on the problem at hand. There are two aspects to
the SO2R debate (that's not the epiphany, just a statement).

1. The theoretical side:  "Take two identical SO2R ops with identical
stations in identical locations, give one SO1R and one SO2R, etc etc
etc."

2. The practical considerations: What effect does SO2R have on your
score? Is it possible to overcome the advantage someone using SO2R
enjoys vis a vis access to a second receiver?

The response to (1) is simple...it's impossible. Even entertaining the
idea that's it's theoretically possible for a few moments, it's fairly
nonsensical. Bear with me a moment...put two accomplished but not
identical SO2R operators at identical SO2R stations in identical
locations at the same time, ignoring all the physical impossibilities
inherent to doing so. Now, have them both enter the same contest. Even
with everything else being equal, there will be a winner and a loser.
One operator will score higher than the other. The real-world example
of this phenomenon (known as intangible, immeasurable skill) is WRTC.
If it's impossible to equalize scores controlling for everything but
operator skill, then what's the justification for controlling for
SO2R? SO2R adds to your score in the same way that these immeasurable
skills do, so why single out SO2R? Some contesters speak fluent
Spanish. Should bilingual (trilingual?) contesters be discriminated
against in phone DX contests? K3ZO knows every Thai contester by their
first name. Should he be listed separately in the results of the All
Asian DX Contest?

And before you throw that 40% number at me and say that none of those
skills are responsible for such a big improvement, consider my post
from last night; of two major contests, one with a winner and one with
a top-5 finisher using one radio. The score differential between an
SO2R op and an SO1R op isn't guaranteed to be anything. It might be
40%, but I think often it will be much less than that.

The response to (2) requires a bit of number crunching. Proposing a
separate category for SO1R and SO2R presupposes that there is some
number of contesters whose skills are equal to the elite, but who run
only one radio. These operators are the true "victims" of SO2R and
SO1R being counted together. As a consequence of their decision to run
only one radio, they consistently score some percentage below the top
10 (or the winner, or whatever you consider success). All other
factors should be the same. Once you discover this factor, the amount
that the best one radio contesters fall consistently below the best
two radio contesters, you'll know the true measure of the
effectiveness of SO2R.

I suspect that you won't find that to be a very large group. WX4TM
alluded to his being a part of that group in his last message, but I
think the fact of the matter is that there is a small number of pretty
dedicated ops, some of whom run two radios and some of whom run one.
Those folks tend to be near the top of the rankings in most contests,
but their position relative to the winner is due to lots of external
factors like choice of off-times, propagation inequalities, antenna
inequalities, and even things as mundane as callsign familiarity. It's
also due to internal factors like the operators' relative skill.
Improving any of these factors may improve your score, and improving
all of them, or one of them dramatically, will improve your score
dramatically.

The point is that SO2R is a tool to improve your score. It's no
different than learning Spanish before the next 10m contest. It's a
shame that SO2R gets singled out as the reason that winners win and
everyone else loses, because there are so many other skills that are
important in contesting.

vy 73,
Chris WF3C/4


-- 
Chris Plumblee
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