[WWYC] Update: Contest progress, questions.

[ke9r at ke9r.com]

It's great to see how you guys have embraced the proposed contest.
There have been many emails of suggestion and support. Thank you all!

Because of all this we are going forth with the contest full steam.
We have been able to come to a fairly solidified set of rules.
Everyones input was embraced, considered, and incoporated. We mulled
over it all in the chatroom extensively. All emails to me were forwarded
to the others that have taken charge with this contest.

Here is what we have so far:

Exchange:	Signal Report + Age (YLs send 00)

Points:		1 point per QSO, regardless.

Multipliers:	DXCC + stations sending age under 30 & YLs. Mults are
		valid only once.

		In example, I work M3PHP on 20m cw for DXCC & age mult.
		I than work M5RIC on 40m phone. M5RIC will only give me
		the age mult (I already have M for a country mult). If
		I than work M5RIC on 40cw, no more mults will result.

Date:		Dec 28 (between 26-28 of Dec) & third weekend of Aug.

Length:		12 hours (times to be debated below)

Awards:		Discussed below.

Logs:		Paper & electronic (discussed below).


Let me explain our reasoning behind all of these rules.

- Exchange -
We considered at least 5 different exchanges for this contest. We
finally settled on Signal + Age for the reasons of simplicity, ease,
and effectiveness. There is not a huge advantage of sending some signifier
that a YM op is WWYC. This will be evident in their age, if they are not
WWYC we can recruit them once we get the logs. We don't want this to be
such an exclusive contest that will cause others to not participate.

- Points -
We considered doing CQWW type scoring as well as many others, however
we found they would be too complicated and would not serve to equalize
the playing field in this contest. We need to consider that since this
will not be a mainstream contest we should realize that a lot of logging
will be done on paper. If other scoring algorithums would greatly normalize
things, it would be worth it, however at the time we feel it is not.

- Mults -
This is the fun of the contest and the meat of it. Mults are DXCC and any
station under 30 (including YLs no matter how old they are). The DXCC keeps
it a DX contest, which reflects the membership of WWYC, it also keeps you
alive on the bands, looking for DX. The age mult is somewhat obvious, as
is the YL mult incorporated into this. We decided against WWYC members
sending something to indicate themselves for two reasons. First, it would
make WWYC seem like an exclusive group. Second, it might keep casual ops
from operating either because they don't understand the exchange, or don't
feel as though they are allowed to participate. This method simplifies
both contest exchanges and scoring. It also is a lot easier to send, "UR
AGE?" on cw, than, "WWYC if under 30, OM + AGE if not" (or the like).

- Date -
Rag, LA6FJA suggested that we move the contest into Christmas break.
This was an immediate hit with everyone. Most of us are off during break,
at our stations, and available. This is especially true during the lull
between Christmas and New Years.

We also would have a late August run of the contest for variety and
spirit.

- Length -
We have decided that 24 hours is too long for this contest, in this
format. We are all fairly happy with a 12 hour contest, however, we
are still struggling with the times. This is where I'd appreciate any
input you have.

Option one is 12z -- 00z.

Option two is 15z -- 03z.

Option three is, you decide.

We are doing our best to not make this a run away contest for one
location. EU might fair well in this contest because of the amount
of WWYC'ers as well as the densities, and the timing of the contest.
However, we really won't know until it happens a few times. Both
choices above are great for USA, and seem okay for SA. Most EU members
have expressed acceptance to it. We still are not sure however. Please
reply to this and dicuss this as much as you can, we are interested in
hearing what propogation is like, what you would expect to work, and
whether you think this is fair, etc.

--- ----
Logisitics wise, we have came far as well. Luc LU1FAM, Colin KU5B,
and Pete M3PHP have been very instrumental in getting the ball rolling.
This contest was orginally Luc's idea, and Colin, Pete, and I have grabbed
on fully.

Colin and Pete offered to be log checkers. We will setup a log checking
board that will communicate via email. We will also have two addresses
to send paper logs to. One being Colin in NA, and the other being Pete
in EU. They will than scan the logs and distribute them to others on the
log checking board. We will than enter those into electronic format as
quick as we can and feed them into the log checking procedure.

As for log checking, we are trying to utilize some checking procedures
and software used in the Texas QSO party, as well as connections that
Peter has with log checking software authors.

Awards wise, we feel pretty confident, however need to do two things.
First, design and conceive the exact awards. Second, pay for them
somehow. We would very much like to offer plaques for the four highest
scoring stations in their respective categories (SO CW, SO SSB, SO MIX,
M/S). This would make the contest very attractive, as well as giving
everyone a very nice reason to strive and operate. They would not be
fantastically expensive, but they would be worth hanging on your wall.
LT1F has already, perhaps, offered to sponsor a plaque somehow. Probably
the M/S one.

Paper certificates will be much easier. We will offer certificates for
each high scoring station on each contient. These should not be too
hard to pay for or distribute. KU5B, M3PHP, KE9R, have all offered to
sponsor one or more certificates. I will most likely end up picking up
the slack on these if we cannot aquire anyone to give us a bit of money
to ship these out. Jason, N0SG said that he might be able to print them
for us.

We also need to come to a name for the contest. Any suggestions would
be appreciated.

So, hm. That is where we stand. This has been discussed a lot and I'm
sure, will be a lot more. It's been fun already. Has been amazing to see
people come out of the woodwork to express their joy and suggestions for
this contest. I am very excited to have it happen. We hope to really gear
everything up for the first run of it, in Decemeber. Our goal is to
finalize rules by the end of this week, start begging contest software
authors to support this contest, than start getting out the word so that
participation in Decemeber will hit the wall.

This will be a very neat little contest. Short, a bit over a sprint,
very orientened towards YM ops while giving the YLs something to get
on for. This will enable the OM ops to come to the YMs for mults, and
also to see who they are-- perhaps, how they can help them out.

It seems good all around.

73 Greg/KE9R