Topband: Improving the Fabulous CQ 160 Contest

[Milt, N5IA]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Zimmerman N3OX" <n3ox at n3ox.net>
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 7:17 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: Improving the Fabulous CQ 160 Contest


>> So if everyone likes it so much, why aren't there more participants
>> in the Stew Perry contest where these features already exist?
>>
>
> Holiday travel is my reason.  I love Stew Perry but the timing is not very
> convenient for me.
>
> I'm pretty likely to be out of town.
>
> -Dan


I have operated in all thirteen SPDCs.  It continues to grow in popularity 
because of the certain specific requirements of operating time, the GS 
exchange, and the distance scoring.

At the same time I believe there is more limited particpation thus far, VS 
the other 160 'tests, because of the seasonal timing that others have 
mentioned.  But, IMHO, the main reason for more limited participation is the 
fact that it is only ONE NIGHT (14 hours).

If a simple change were made to make the SPDC a 28 hour contest (ie, two 
nights) with the same start and stop times, I believe the contest would 
blossom full.

Since this thread started reference the CQ 160,  a change of points scoring 
from in country, same continent, another continent to a distance based 
system would definitely enhance the contest.  Add in "grids worked" for a 
mult, together with the currently used states, provinces and countries.  It 
could quickly be calculated to derive the X points that need to be assigned 
to distance such that the overall scoring results would be similar to the 
historic records.

An improvement in a couple of important areas (exchange and scoring) while 
leaving the final results such that historical records and comparisons are 
not changed would be a SUPER change, IMHO.

Happy New Year de Milt, N5IA, in DM52.