I cannot see why anyone would criticize NQ4I for putting his superstation on in the GQP and certainly would not consider it "lowering" the status of the station. A number of the big M/M stations are on in contests other than CQ WW and ARRL DX and why shouldn't they be? After all the effort to put them together, they should be used as much as makes sense for the owner. At the very least, running in some of the minor contests may help find "bugs" that need to be corrected rather than waiting for the big contests to discover that something is amiss. Some of those guest ops might even become regular operators in some of the big contests.
I know K1TTT makes his superstation available for almost all contests
if someone wants to operate and often has contesting newbies over to
see what is going on and to learn more about the sport. K2LE/1 has
done likewise. I dunno about the big three stations (W3LPL, K3LR,
KC1XX) but I believe I have heard them on in other than the big
contests.
I applaud Rick for his effort in opening his station to new contest operators. Perhaps after seeing a contest first hand, they will get the bug and become enthusiasts. We certainly can use as many newcontesters as we can attract. The more that get interested in contesting, the more stations there are for everyone to work. Using a station like Rick's may also give the visitr ideas on how ti improve his own station, e.g. what software is available, what antenna switching to use, which keyers are the most comfortable for that individual, etc. For example, it was at Rick's that I first used a Schurr paddle and realized that there was life beyond my old Brown Bros paddle.
But, I do disagree with Jeff about giving bonus points for working NQ4I in the GQP. First, the advance notice of the rules would limit the ability to change calls, e.g. W4AN rather than NQ4I for the contest. Once you start down the road of giving bonus points for working specific stations, where does it stop? K4BAI is a well known and respected GA contester. How about some bonus points for working John, too? And, KU8E is an up and coming contester, How about some bonus points for working him? And, maybe if there were bonus points for working XYZ county, someone would go activate that county. I know SC gives bonus points for working the SM but he hasn't been on in years.
Let's face it. Anyone who gets on in the GQP for more than five minutes is going to run into NQ4I whether you get bonus points for working the station or not. Let's not bring the level of the contest down by adding some arcdane incentives that won't do much to increase activity.
While we are at it, maybe SECC should petition the SC SM to take over and revamp the SC QSO Party...
73,
Dennis, K2SX
-----Original Message-----
From: ku8e@bellsouth.net
Sent: Dec 17, 2007 9:49 AM
To: secc@contesting.com
Subject: [SECC] GQP re-defined
I think I mentioned this before but didn't hear back any comments.
Why not make NQ4I (or W4AN - if they use that call) as the official club station of the GQP
sponsor, which is the SECC. You would get bonus points every time you work them.
I think they do something like this in the PA QSO party.
I have no problem if Rick's station does M/M in GQP. The more fixed stations that are on from
GA the better.
Jeff