[UK-CONTEST] Proposed change to UK Activity Contest

[Ray James]

Hi all,

Some good viewpoints exchanged which I've followed when able but other tasks including last nights UK Activity Contest on 23cm took up my time.

My suggestion for a UK only square multiplier in UKAC's is not about seeking advantage for any particular part of the UK but to make the contest more competitive, interesting, challenging and appealing for operators throughout the UK.

The contest is currently scored on a "points per Km for each qso" basis, multiplied by the total squares worked.
If the rest of Europe held a similar event each week then we would probably fall in line and they would just become another March/October/VHFFD event compressed to a smaller operating duration and held each month.

But this isn't the case. 
Most of our UKAC's only coincide with the last two hours of the Nordic Activity Contest were serial numbers are not sent at all and schedule making is permitted via the cluster or ON4KST so it's a different ball game but does attract non-Nordic participation from elsewhere.
I'm all for working DX into EU and did so during last nights UKAC by working into Denmark on 23cm.
It was nice to get 782 points for the distance worked but getting a bonus multiplier with the square was fine under the current rules but did nothing to encourage greater inter-UK activity.

This is the problem with the current rule of including non-UK squares as a multiplier in a UK Activity Contest. The carrot is ever present for those in workable range of F, ON, PA, DL, OZ and OK, SM concentrating most of their efforts in those directions, not only for points per Km value BUT hoping to work those much valued square multipliers that are out of range to the rest of the UK, making the end result pretty predictable. 

We need more of a challenge and more scope for operating tactics in these events to boost interest on a national scale.    
Sure, if you can work the continent then grab the points, you've earned them, but look inter-UK for the multipliers and lets all have some fun on a Tuesday night.

73 Ray GM4CXM

PS I actually like the NAC solution of no serial numbers. It may just attract the "I don't like contesting" brigade to participate as well as hiding what how each competitor is doing during the event.