[WWYC] WWYC Contest.

[ke9r at ke9r.com]

I'm sure this has been hashed around in the back of everyones minds,
but Luc LU1FAM and I have been very seriously thinking about this.
As WWYC we need a contest to solidify us and help us network with
both others in WWYC and the contesting community in general. This
contest will increase awareness of WWYC, youth in contesting, and
mostly just be fun for us.

Heres the format:

1. Date: April and August. (We will most likely be skipping this Aug)

2. Length: 24 Hour contest, 1200z - 1200z (in format of IARU)

3. Exchange: 59 Age Qualifier. Send YM if under 30, send OM if over
30. Ie, 59 YM, 59 OM.

4. Categories: SO HP, SO LP, SSB or CW or MIX; M/S.

5. Scoring: 2 points for YM stations, 1 point for OM stations with
multipler as DXCC entities worked.

6. Awards: each category, each contient, overall winners.

7. One single transmitted signal, all categories including M/S.

8. Logs due within 2-3 weeks, results posted as quick as humanly
possible free of charge on the website, awards mailed promptly right
after that. (Considering what format to accept, should we accept
paper logs? That is, if major contesting software logs the contest).

That was our outline of rules as we have been dicussing it. Our only
concerns are log checking, and logging software. We believe that we
can get TR & CT to support our contest, it is not very hard to code.
If worse came to worse, it is very easy to score by hand using another
contest as a template.

As for log checking, we will need some help. As WWYC we can probably
beg help from some people. We would like to keep editorial control of
things ourself, but realize that the code might not be let out for
log checking. Does anyone know a log checker that has experience with
matters? This is the crux of any contest. We just want this to be fun,
however, after it starts to build up we do need to maintain the integrity
of the contest and it's records.

The only other thing we might need help with is a nice certificate
design. We want it to stand out, while still being wallpaper enough to
look good.

Cost for this contest will really be minimal. Log checking would be
no cost, only thing would be printing costs for certificates and the
mailing fees. At most there would be 35 mailings, which would leave
postage under $40 USD. I'm sure we could get a big boy contest club
to sponser this nominal fee if the contest goes well and starts to
gather intrest.

Much consideration was put into making out of continent Qs worth more,
however we feel as though this will just add more confusion to the
scoring process. We have normalized this by awarding certificates
for each continent. I don't know if there is really a fair way to
normalize this. Currently, it seems as most WWYC membership lies
around EU. This will probably make their scores higher, but I think
the only real solution for this is for the other continents to recruit
more WWYC!. This contest might really drive that. I feel as though
the US is underrepresented in WWYC, as are other places besides
G, DL, & 9A.

Please discuss this, comment on it. We are very serious about making
this happen and will put in our time and money to do it. We want
WWYC to be heard on the bands, not only in one line of 3830 messages
sometime.

When you reply, reply to both Luc and I, if not the list.

73 Greg/KE9R