Topband: 160 Meter Contests

[Tree]

The two point / five point rule in the ARRL DX had a good intention.  It is 
probably important to remember that the rules for this contest were made 
back in the early 1970's (or was it even the 60's?) - when 160 meters 
sounded a lot different than it does now.  Gee - except for daylight hours,
you could only run 200 watts (or less depending on what part of the band
you were on).

However, what this ended up doing is just making the east coast the place
to be - since you had good propagation into the high population centers of
the VE/USA, and you had a shot at working some europeans (although, Europe 
wasn't anything like what you find in Europe now).  On the west coast, we
would listen hard up around 1910 in the LORAN buzz to work JA3ONB, JA5DQH 
and perhaps a few others.

Now with superstations that can work Europe as easy as the VE/USA located 
in an ARRL section - maybe this rule doesn't work anymore.  It also sets up
a funny situation with stations like AH2G - who only count 2 points and
for the Pacific multiplier instead of being a DX station.  I can't wait 
for someone from there to run a bunch of 5 point JAs and win the contest
after working most of the VE/USA multipliers earlier in the evening.

The 3 main 160 contests (ARRL, Stew and CQ) are different flavors - just
like the CQ WW and ARRL DX are different.  I have operated from Europe 
in the ARRL 160, and you just plan to be on for a few hours and that's
it.  It just isn't a major operating event - like the CQ 160 or Stew.

To win the VE/USA, you will need to work lots of DX stations - so it isn't
just a sweepstakes.  

So - I think the ARRL has it's place.  It is probably the best place for 
the WAS hunter (either in the VE/USA or DX) to be looking for those hard to
find states.  

It is also a great warmup for the peak of the 160 season - and is often 
the "alarm clock" that gets people thinking about 160 again.  I don't 
think having different flavors is a bad thing.  Sure, it might not be 
everyone's favorite cup of tea - but having all of the contests be the
same doesn't seem like the right choice either.

I liked idea of giving the DX half the band - but the devil is in the
details with that one.

73 Tree N6TR
tree at kkn.net