[VHFcontesting] The Simple Fix [was: The Psychology of Contest Participation]

[Ev Tupis]

--- On Sun, 2/15/09, Shupienis, Joseph <jshupienis at ccac.edu> wrote:
> THE ONLY WAY TO FIX IT IS TO EXPLICITLY PROHIBIT
> GRID-CIRCLING IN LIMITED ROVER AND "CLASSIC" ROVER
> CATEGORIES.
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As someone who "test flew" rover rules before the ARRL implemented any, I can say with certainty that this is 50% of the solution.

The other 50% is to normalize the score-calculation method to that of all other entry classes...a scoring method that encourages participants to make contact with as many others as possible...meeting the ARRL's contest objectives.

Here are two simple rules that fully address this decades-long controversy:

1. Rovers calculate their score from each of their grid-4 operations in the same way that all classes do.  Their final score is the sum of all individual grid-4 scores.

2. Once a Rover begins operation from a new Grid-4 (as evidenced by logging a "first QSO" from that Grid-4), it may not resume operation from any previously activated Grid-4 for the remainder of the contest.

Aside from the flood of people who will respond by saying things like "I won't rove under this set of rules because __(insert self-serving statement here___", there is no down-side to this.

After implementing these two rules, the only item left is the same one that plagues all other classes: the scoring disparity (aka: the un-level playing field) between the geographic regions.

Regards,
Ev, W2EV