[VHFcontesting] Leveling the Playing Field- [ REGIONAL VS. NATIONAL ]

[Ken Kent - KA2LIM]

I am going to break my rule of not commenting and comment.

I am really tired of hearing all the whining about "it's not fair", " the NE
has a big advantage", "the playing field needs to be leveled", "the rules
need to be changed" blah, blah, blah. Bullshit!
If you don't like the rules of current contests, then start one of your own
and write the rules to suit you. (and be ready for all the complaining)
If you are participating in a contest to "WIN",  then  you are obviously in
it for the wrong reason, you should pursue other interests. 

Personally I have been building a contest station for 13 years. Constantly
up-grading and adding more bands. No, I don't have lots of money, do a
little bit at a time. Building a station that is easy for others to operate
just happens to be "my thing", operating is secondary to me. Winning is
really not on the list. We do what we can do.

Where you live is what you have to work with. If you don't like where you
are located and "winning" is so important then move.

on the should be list:
#1 "HAVE FUN"
#2 Make every effort possible to make the contact, no matter how long it
takes
#3 your score is what it is
#4 HAVE FUN
#5  see rule #1 and #4

Flame away.....

Ken
KA2LIM

-----Original Message-----
From: VHFcontesting [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf
Of Les Rayburn
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2015 12:35 PM
To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Leveling the Playing Field- [ REGIONAL VS. NATIONAL
]


I have to agree that it would be difficult or impossible to change the rules
of a VHF Contest to level the playing field. There are simply too many
regional factors that influence the outcome that cannot be overcome with
scoring variations. Terrain, population density, varying activity levels,
and propagation.

Many of us benefit from e-skip propagation that is common during the Summer
events, others from a large population of VHF amateurs in their area, etc.

The closest parallel in HF contesting is probably 160 Meters, where attempts
have been made to address the problems with distance scoring. 
Even that has met with only mixed success, and the problems on VHF, while
similar, are much more pronounced.

I think the solution is simple.

Eliminate a national winner or winners, and make all VHF & UHF contests
regional events. Each call district would have it's own champion in each
category.

This would basically just recognize what we already know to be fact. 
Some areas of the country have a much better opportunity for success
regardless of operator skill, station, or strategy.

We might also be able to then eliminate some categories, and simply the
whole process. Stations could concentrate on winning their call sign
division, where the playing field is much closer to level. It still won't be
perfect, region 2 for example, would greatly favor stations in the Northern
side of the region, but it would be much closer to perfection than what we
have now.

What am I missing?



--
73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
EM63nf

6M VUCC #1712
AMSAT #38965
Grid Bandits #222
Southeastern VHF Society
Central States VHF Society Life Member
Six Club #2484

Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light

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