Topband: ZLs

[Jim Brown]

On 1/30/2024 11:09 AM, Mark wrote:
> Also the timing of this "contest" (thanks to the scoring system it's really
> more of an activity weekend in this neck of the woods) doesn't do us any
> favours down here or in the southern hemisphere in general.
> 
> As Tree noted, it is the middle of summer here and the QRN can be
> diabolical and of course we have a lot less hours of darkness.
> 
> With darkness such a big factor and the fact it is called a "world wide"
> contest, I am surprised this contest isn't run around the equinoxes to
> level the playing field, not to mention evening out the effect of QRN.

It helps to understand that virtually all DX contests run by US hams 
were established in the earlier decades of ham radio by hams that live 
in the northeast US. Rules make sense to them, who have relatively easy 
access to Europe. Contest season worldwide is THEIR good propagation, 
and scoring rules make sense for them. And Rules must be set in stone so 
that records may be preserved.

Rather than change the Rules so that more folks around the world can 
have fun, those with the resources to do so set up stations in the state 
of Maine, so that they can be that much closer to Europe. During 160M 
contests, it's difficult to work many east US stations from the west 
coast until the band closes to Europe, because they're only using EU RX 
antennas. And that's when many of those without west-facing RX antennas 
go to bed.

Thank Tree and his cohorts in the Pacific northwest who established the 
Stew Perry for contests targeted to the rest of the world. And since the 
Rules don't favor them nearly as strongly, the east coast cohort mostly 
sits them out.

73, Jim K9YC