It is important that we recognize clearly that contesting as we are
discussing it is by definition an Amateur activity! Even so, a contest is
a product that is "bought" (engaged in; invested in; partaken of; ...) by
a set of customers (participants, every last one an amateur). If we
accept for the purpose of analysis the product/customer analogy then some
powerful product concept design tools can be employed to analyse various
options and select a set of attributes that-- the chart below is derived
from Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and both enumerates relates
Requirements and Features.
Requirement - a desired (by the customer) attribute/functionality
of a product
Feature - a product detail that satisfies one or more Requirement
With the ARRL DX Contest in mind,
The Contest House of Quality
----------------------------
REQUIREMENTS
____________________________
\
E Increase noncompetitive \
or casualparticipation \
____________________________ \
\ \
D Serve noncompetitive \ \
or casual participant \ \
____________________________ \ \
\ \ \
C < 48 Hr competitive \ \ \
catagory \ \ \
____________________________ \ \ \
\ \ \ \
B Increase competitive \ \ \ \
participation \ \ \ \
____________________________ \ \ \ \
\ \ \ \ \
A 48 Hour traditional \ \ \ \ \
full competition contest \ \ \ \ \
____________________________ \ \ \ \ \
\ \ \ \ \ \
\ \ \ \ \ \
FEATURES \ \ \ \ \ \
_______________________________|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
1 Current contest design | X | | | X | |
_______________________________|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
2 "Any 24 Hour" catagory | | | | X | |
_______________________________|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
3 Contiguous 24 Hr catagory | | X | X | | |
_______________________________|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
4 Pins for ### contacts | | X | | | X |
_______________________________|___|___|___|___|___|
The minimum set of features needed to satisfy all Requirements
is #1 + #3 + #4. #2 does not satisfy any requirement not satisfied
by #1.
Proposed additions to current 48 Hour DX Contests:
- Add Contiguous 24 Hour catagory
-- start with just one (all bands)
-- recommend any 24 contiguous 24 Hours
- Award participation pins (like SS) for anyone making 200 contacts.
Respectfully,
John Montague, W0RUE
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