Hi Jamie, Hope all is well with you. Here is my take on this
subject. It gets kinda of old seeing the same multi stations winning year after
year. If ARRL was to use distance as a system to gives points per QSO, then the
playing field would level out to where the guys farther south, and in the
midwest would actually have a chance in being competitive. Take NR5M, lots of
money invested in big antennas, never going to win though, too far away! NQ4I ,
very good contest station, but too far south ! NR4M in Virginia, even they
can not crack the top 3. So this is why some old contest stations are no longer
competing, N4RJ, W4MYA and others. They know they can not compete with the NE
Boys, only K3LR can compete. So this discourages people from operating these
contests, cause they can never win! I read what VY2ZM wrote. He has spent
a lot of time and investment in his station on PEI. He also knows that through
the years he has seen how well VE1ZZ, Jack has done from his location. He also
knows that his location is optimal for working dx contests. He is the
closest to Europe!! This is why ops from Europe go to EA8, CU2, CT3 and northern
Africa, because this is the best location in the world, close to Europe and
straight across the water to USA! I know that by leveling the playing field more
people would want to participate. I hope that the rules will be changed. Now we
will be able to see who the really great operators are, not just the ones
closest to Europe. Mark W4SVO