Hi Kevin,
I say let's not go on a cabin-fever, contest-renovation crusade! The
4-character grid locator multiplier system works just fine in the US and
Canada. We do not have high population densities as Europe has - a situation
that might otherwise merit consideration of a change in the structure of
contests. There is no need to recreate the wheel when the present system works
fine. No system is perfect and no system can be perfect in the VHF contests.
There are no major problems with using grid locators or the system would have
been scrapped long ago. Let's leave well-enough alone!
To those who might subconsciously think that making a change like this will
make it easier for you to win contests: It won't. The same people who have been
the leading scorers in the major contests would continue to be the leading
scorers. The reason is because they do whatever is needed to get the job done.
This is true regardless of the rules set.
73,
Paul, K7CW
--- On Sat, 2/14/09, kevin kaufhold <kkaufhold@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: kevin kaufhold <kkaufhold@yahoo.com>
Subject: [VHFcontesting] A distance scoring contest
To: vhfcontesting@contesting.com
Date: Saturday, February 14, 2009, 6:47 AM
For everyone's information, the ARRL did use distance scoring in the August
UHF for one year in 1982. I believe it was referred to as RANGE. Look it up in
the old QST's! When the VUCC started in 1983, the UHF contest moved to the 1
x 2 grid squares as the multiplier. Between 1978 when the UHF started and 1981,
a 1 x 1 grid square was used. At the time, various versions of grid squares
were considered to be an effort towards distance scoring, certainly an
improvement over using states as a multiplier.
As an experiment, using a 6 digit grid locator has a lot of appeal, especially
if we start off in the August UHF. We have very few Joe 706's active in
August, so the disruption to that contest would be minimal, I think. And, there
was little problem when K9JK pushed 6 digits for the Spring Sprints. August has
a lot of very experienced microwave enthusiasts who are quite used to 6 digits.
And the UHF is small enough (in terms of logs) that it a distance scoring
experiment would be managable. We could also put a max limit on a distance
multiplier, to give some consideration to EME without overly skewing the
results.
Distance scoring might also provide something of a disincentive to pack roving
operations. To max points, they would have to increase power levels and run
farther apart. I am sure they are capable of doing that, but they then would at
least be encouraged to have "real" contacts rather than QSO's
literally within a few feet of each other.
A parallel type of contest using both grids and distance as a scoring method
would also be interesting to do for a few years to see which one the VHF
community really likes. That might lead to more complexity however, so I do not
know if a parallel track would be worthwhile.
I know the League's resources are stretched. Either logging programs would
have to be modified for 6 digits, or the League would have to expand their
scoring techniques from the 10G to encompass distance scoring in August (or
other contest).
If people are really serious about this (rather than just chatting on the
reflector), then I suggest an informal committee or delegation of some sort be
developed off reflector to study this more seriously. What say you?
Kevin
W9GKA
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