[UK-CONTEST] Two Field Days...

[Nigel Cawthorne]

Hullo (again) UK Contesters,

In reply to Chris G3SJJ's observation that I may have been
ignoring SSB FD in the earlier comments on the CW Field
Day. Not so. To state the obvious: the two contest formats
could not be more different. The SSB FD scoring system is
based on working DXCC countries as multipliers. The CW
version is a linear scoring system, apart from the 160m / 10m
double points and the extra linear QSO points for /P stations.

If we are going to take forward both Field Days (CW and SSB)
I would suggest restructuring the scoring system of them both
in order to give much greater emphasise on working other /P
stations and not just 'DX' (as in the SSB FD/EU FD case).

G0AAA/p has only limited experience in SSB Field Day.

As far as I can recall, G0AAA/p has only entered SSB FD
once, and we won the Restricted section outright because
we did nothing other than hunt obscure DX mults most of whom
(a) were not portable, (b) were not in the contest and (c) had no
real interest in working us anyway! Not a fun operation.

If we're going to restructure the scoring of both Field Days
as well as hopefully merge them more fully with the European
events, then having multipliers based on /P stations would 
seem the logical way to go. In order not to upset too much
the DX-mult element, why not have a two-level DX-mult system?
e.g if you work plain UR1OO it counts as one DX-mult [UR], but if you
work UR1OO/P it counts as three (or however many) [UR/P] mults.
There would also still be a linear scoring [QSO pts] incentive to 
work any /P station (probably much greater than the current 2:1 ratio).

That way there would be a real incentive to hunt 'rare' /P stations
[both local and DX] in the two Field Days. Clubs making an 
effort to put Field Day stations on the air in 'rarer' EU countries
would be rewarded with greater interest and activity. Greater levels
of activity all round will lead to even more stations taking part, 
particularly as /P stations. 

73 - Nigel G3TXF [third op at G0AAA/p]

PS : If you would like to see some G0AAA/p stats have a
look at www.G3TXF.com/3A's/G0AAA/G0AAAP.html