[UK-CONTEST] The contest "exchange"....

[Steve GW4BKG]

I was about to post a similar comment to that made by Nigel.
Listening on 15m ssb it was obvious that many G stations were unfamiliar 
with the exchange needed & a number of DX stations were having problems 
explaining the concept of a "district" & language issues were adding to the 
confusion.
Why participants did not check the rules of the contest beforehand on the 
RSGB website is another matter.
I also use contests like the YO & UT etc as a way of obtaining contacts with 
some of the rarer administrative areas in these countries for their own 
national awards which are often activated specifically for the contest 
involved.
The difference with these contests is that by & large everyone works 
everyone else but gain additional  multipliers for working the areas of the 
host country.
I believe there used to be an award for working all G GW GM etc counties.
If this were to be the criteria for a contest like the 21/28 one would hope 
that even the most casual operator would know their own county & this 
concept would be that much easier for the DX station to appreciate.
Steve
GW4BKG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nigel G3TXF" <nigel at G3TXF.com>
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 10:36 PM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] The contest "exchange"....


>
> Hello UK Contesters,
>
> The use of UK Districts as an exchange in various RSGB
> Contests (including the recent 21/28MHz) has always struck
> me as a bit of a waste of an opportunity. Why use as an
> "exchange" something which is NOT collected for any Award
> outside of the contest? In the Swiss H-26 Contest you
> receive Swiss Cantons. There's a nice award for working all
> 26 Cantons. In the French REF contests ditto. It's
> Departments, and there's a programme of awards for
> collecting French departments. The same goes for US States
> in the ARRL-Contest and for Oblasts in some Russian
> Contests. But in the UK, we use a contest exchange, which is
> not, as far as I know, connected with any well known
> operating award.
>
> There's no incentive for award chasers to take part in RSGB
> contests if the received "exchange" does not relate to any
> award and to anything "collectable".
>
> WAB Squares would probably be more useful/attractive in this
> respect than UK Districts. It's quite common for people to
> ask in HF QSOs (both in and out of contests) "what's your
> WAB OM?". But no-one has EVER asked me for my UK District.
> Why should they!
>
> 73 - Nigel G3TXF
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike
> Pemberton
> Sent: 05 October 2010 21:07
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] RSGB 21 / 28MHz Contest 2010
>
> Hi all,
>
> well I did have a listen and had a few QSOs on 15m but
> nothing much seemed to be audible on my very simple
> antennas.
> It is a pity because I really used to like this contest.
>
> Unfortunately I am not sure the rest of the world wants to
> work UK and UK districts any more and maybe a 21/28 contest
> with more international appeal would help. Multipliers for
> UK districts and higher points for UK stations too perhaps
> (a la IOTA island stations) but with an all work all format
> may be more popular. The danger is all contests start to
> look alike. We lost the 7 MHz contests because the work G
> stations format (amongst other reasons). It would be a pity
> to lose another unique RSGB event by not moving with the
> times. I quite liked the "mixed or single mode" improvement
> of a few years ago but that obviously did not hit the spot
> and bring back big numbers of stations outside the UK.
>
> Please try to keep this event in the calendar even if we
> have to change the format a little to popularise it.
>
> Like many others with non-radio interests the prospect of
> almost dead 21/28 lost out to other activities again this
> year.
>
> Only my thoughts and I know this one has been around the
> buoy with the contest committee a few times.
>
> 73
>
> Mike G4DDL
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