[UK-CONTEST] RSGB 80mCC DATA Contests

[Steve Knowles]

Ian

I must disagree with your last paragraph.  The first four data events of 
this year have demonstrated beyond doubt that the new rules are working 
exactly as intended.

A substantial proportion of the signals on the band at any one time are now 
on PSK - a very narrow-band mode which is more resource-friendly than RTTY. 
Because of this, even though the numbers of stations entering is increasing, 
pressure on band space has reduced so that the extended section above 3600 
is hardly used.  More QSOs are being made and yet many of the smaller, less 
well-equipped stations are able to take advantage of the extra space to try 
running.

A spin-off is that it is now very difficult (although not actually 
impossible) for an individual big signal to win a leg by boot-ruling one 
mode.  A number of stations who were originally very anti PSK have realised 
this and are now using the mode.  A success in "self-training", I would have 
thought.

Lastly, remember that the 80mCCs are Club events.  Operating tactics which 
benefit the individual may not be those which are in the best interests of 
the club which they represent.  This is an area which does not, yet, seem to 
have been explored!

73

Steve  G3UFY


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ian White GM3SEK" <gm3sek at ifwtech.co.uk>
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] RSGB 80mCC DATA Contests


> Steve Knowles wrote:
>>
>>While it's strictly correct to say that nobody knows what the winning
>>strategy is, it's possible to make a very educated guess and to plan
>>your operating accordingly.  I have two April entrants who have
>>confidently stated that they have cracked the system - time will reveal
>>all!
>>
>>Any time you would like to make a few data QSOs (or even submit a log)
>>you would be very welcome to join in the fun.
>>
>
> I join in whenever I can. We are usually out for almost all the CC
> evenings, but I turn up for Datamodes and CW whenever we're home
> (leaving the option for my wife  to do the SSB).
>
> As a serious RTTY contester (while obviously having no personal stake in
> the overall results of the CC series), I tend to use the Datamodes
> evenings to sharpen up my RTTY contesting skills. But the so-called
> "normalization" process has an unintended consequence: if someone
> focuses on RTTY and runs away from the pack, while no other entrant has
> done the same for PSK, the effect of the normalization formula is to
> devalue RTTY relative to PSK in *everybody's* overall score.
>
> This  happened in January, February and March this year (for March you
> can blame me)... but it could also happen the other way around. If
> someone decided to focus exclusively on PSK and ran away with that mode,
> while all the RTTY enthusiasts happened to take the evening off, the
> unintended consequence would be to devalue PSK in everybody's overall
> score instead.
>
> That means the *true* optimum balance of RTTY vs PSK cannot be
> determined by analysing past logs. The optimum for the next session will
> pivot on the actions of two unknown individuals on the night.
>
> I'm sorry, but a rule that has such unintended and unpredictable
> consequences just cannot be right. Normalization is fine for levelling
> out the values of a large number of CC sessions over the entire season;
> but it won't work to level out the profound differences between RTTY and
> PSK contesting.
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> 73 from Ian GM3SEK
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