[UK-CONTEST] Contests

[G3SJJ]

Dave, with respect, it is you who is missing the point.

Competition, competitiveness, contests ... all occur in everyday life. 
The whole idea is that there will be a winner, people at the top, people 
in the middle, people lower down. Radio contesting is the same, as is AFS.

AFS is about Clubs competing against each other, the one with the 
highest group score wins the trophy. A list is produced so that Clubs 
can compare their scores and maybe plan how to improve their placing. 
Likewise, the contest recognises the individual achievements and lists 
them, together with the award of a trophy for the top scorer.

AFS is not about "getting club members on the air in contests." 
Obviously, the nearer you can get to a full team then the greater the 
Club's chances of attaining a better position in the table.

Now, within that framework it was recognised that some club members are 
not as practised as others, and therefore the QRS Corral was introduced. 
This provided a comfort zone for the less practised people. The thread 
started with a proposal that this section be reduced because of lack of 
interest. I and others support this, and particularly with my comments 
above, in that we are in a competition with a time frame. If I can work 
20 European stations outside of UK sending within the now standard 25 to 
35 wpm speed window, rather than 10 UK stations sending within a 15 to 
25 wpm window, then I will.

Having said that, as I mentioned in a previous posting, and Dave BUO 
also commented, we would always try and slow down a little to give some 
encouragement, but that is as much as you must expect in a competitive 
environment. The only alternative is to call it a QSO Party, and take 
away the incremental listings and trophies. Doubt if you would get much 
activity though!

Chris G3SJJ



Dave Sergeant wrote:
> Reading these threads with some interest...
>
> Perhaps we are missing the point. The whole purpose of AFS, the club 
> champs and the former QRS contests is to get club members on the air 
> in contests. Many, in fact most, of these will not be dedicated 
> contersters like those of us who frequent this list. In fact quite a 
> lot will have no intention of ever becoming so, but only come on to 
> 'help their local club'. In this context we at Bracknell have the 
> same problem that others have mentioned - they perhaps have a listen, 
> tune around, and hear loads of stations sending at a far higher speed 
> than they can possibly copy, perhaps work a couple of stations then 
> lose interest and wander off to do other things. Similar applies to 
> the phone legs. There is a big problem attracting these people to 
> contests in the first place before we even think about getting them 
> to actually enjoy them and improve their skills.
>
> I have been trying with limited success to get our members on the 
> air. In fact we have been far more successful in the CW events, maybe 
> a sign that those who have been CW ops for quite a while are keener 
> to get on the air in the first place. A few dedicated enthusiasts 
> have a bash in the club challenge data legs, support for SSB events 
> has been pitiful. Maybe this is a consequence of a club with members 
> largely in urban accomodation and lack of facilities for decent 
> stations, but it may also be a sign of the times that they have no 
> dedicated interest in operating when there are so many other 
> attractions in life.
>
> If we are to get new converts to contesting, CW or otherwise, we must 
> actively explore QRS parts of contests, or even restore the old QRS 
> events, to give these people a introduction to the hobby which is not 
> so intimidating to the complete novice.
>
> At Bracknell this year we failed miserably to generate interest. Two 
> of our regulars dropped out at the last minute and our only other 
> entrant apart from me was a relatively newcomer to CW contests who 
> found the whole event rather confusing and only made 10 QSOs. I 
> suspect our problem is far from unique.
>
> 73 Dave G3YMC
>
> http://www.davesergeant.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>
>