Topband: The East Coast Advantage

Jim Brown jim at audiosystemsgroup.com
Wed Oct 28 08:34:29 PDT 2009


On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:22:35 -0500, Edward Swynar wrote:

>I heard solid European & African stations practically begging for N.A. QSOs,
>with no takers...and this, at some 1.5 - 2 hours before local sunset!

>What a difference a 9 hour drive S/E on the continent can make on the
>band...Hi Hi.

Imagine the FAR greater difference from W6/W7. In CQWW160 and ARRL 160, it 
makes a difference in scores of at least 4:1 for equivalent stations and 
operators. And it's why many W6/W7 operators don't bother getting on the air 
for these contests -- while we can HEAR east coast stations loud and clear 
hours before our sunset, they don't hear us (or don't WANT to hear us) 
because they're listening NE for Qs that yield a lot more points. I'd bet 
that there are far more east coast Beverages aimed NE than are aimed W. 

Now that computing power makes it easy, it's long past time for contest rules 
to be changed to level the geographical playing field. The Boring Amateur 
Radio Club has shown one simple and effective way to do that with their Stew 
Perry event. It's time for CQ and ARRL to follow their lead.  

I've won SCV for the three years I've lived here in CA, and been in the top 
10 or so W6/w7 scores for both ARRL and CQ contests, but ONLY because many 
far better stations and operators are turned off by scoring rules that give 
east coast stations a huge advantage. N6RO has a KILLER 160M station, and he 
enjoys the band, but he only spends a few hours between watching hockey on 
TV. K6XX doesn't get on at all!  Until these rules are changed, you won't 
hear much of me in these contests. It's no fun calling S9 east coast stations 
who don't want to work you and continually CQ in your face. 

73,

Jim Brown K9YC







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