Topband: FW: ERROR IN ARRL 160M CONTEST RULES ?

[Ken Brown]

Any comments?

Yes, I do have a comment about QST reporting of the scores. QST has reduced their coverage of the 160 meter contest scores to show only the top ten in each catagory and then in their "Regional Scores" section only the top five in each catagory for each REGION. Since the exchange in the 160 test is RST and SECTION, one might expect that score listings would show how we fared relative to others in our SECTION, rather than REGION. Max KH6ZM and I don't even have our scores printed in QST, even though we came in first and second in our SECTION. To get our scores printed we would have to be in the top five of the whole West Coast REGION, not just the Southwest DIVISION or the Pacific SECTION. We are 2500 miles, or more, away from all the other sections in the Southwest Division.

If you're an ARRL member you can download the PDF version of the QST coverage. What you get in the download includes what was in print in QST as well as the rest of the scores (the last six pages) that QST just cannot find space for these days.

I enjoyed OPERATING in the contest in 2004 and this year too. Submitting a log is not the most enjoyable part of the process, and if my score isn't going to be printed why put in the effort?

DE N6KB