Topband: The East Coast Advantage

[W2RU - Bud Hippisley]

On Oct 30, 2009, at 8:22 AM, Julius Fazekas wrote:

>  Like most others, [I] follow my friends' scores.


Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

Unfortunately, I find the QST editorial emphasis on "Top Ten" boxes  
for all the major contests works against the local competition  
interest factor.  Yes, I know, I can go to the interactive database on  
the ARRL web site and examine scores in my section, for instance, but  
I could also go there and just as well construct any kind of Top Ten  
list I choose.  (But someone please explain to me how limiting the on- 
line contest results to ARRL members builds interest in these contests  
or membership in ARRL.  Imagine going to college to take courses but  
being told at the end of the semester you can't know what your final  
grades are because you don't have your degree yet.)

While being near the east coast is nice, the competition is heavy  
because of our high [ham] population density.  The odds of winning my  
division are pretty low and I, for one, sustain my interest by  
competing with others in my section or my local club or by adding to  
my club's score.  Back when QST printed all the scores, I used to read  
the section results not just for my own section but for many of the  
sections of the USA or elsewhere in the world because of where many of  
my friends had landed.  These days the Top Ten tallies in the QST  
write-ups  are of almost zero interest to me in the absence of all the  
scores from the rest of us, who are "mere mortals" compared to the  
winners.

Bud, W2RU