I've been reading the mail about 24- vs. 48-hour DX contesting for the
past few weeks. There have been many points to which I've been tempted
to respond, but I've found that by waiting a few days, usually someone
will make my point for me. But since Eric/K3NA has threatened to soon
summarize the debate for NCJ, I figured I'd better say my piece before
it's too late.
I do remember when the DX 'test was two weekends per mode, so a single
48-hour weekend already seems short to me. (Thought I'd say that up
front.) And my perspective is not that of a Big Gun. I run 500 Watts
to an R7 vertical from a postage-stamp-sized city lot. But that's OK;
if I could (when I do) call CQ, I would get (do get) an endless stream
of neighbors knocking on my door. What I enjoy is (1) contributing a
few points to the club's total, and (2) cracking the odd pileup, e.g.,
by XIT'ing down when everybody else is up, or by calling at just the
right time. Beating out a Big Gun this way sure tickles.
Keep in mind that the ARRL DX Contest has historicaly been The Big One.
I'm hesitant to devalue what winning this one means. So I tend to be
unsympathetic to arguments that boil down to, "I'm not gonna play if I
can't win." Endurance is a big part of the single-op game.
My first observation is that there already exists a category for those
ops whose family and other obligations will not let them put in the full
48 hours. It's called Single Band. The time your favorite band is
closed it the time you invest in domestic peace. And, if you're loathe
to give up the variety that comes from daytime and nighttime bands,
remember that this category does not prevent you from making contacts on
other bands as well; they just become part of your "check log."
And single band accommodates those for whom time is not their only
limited resource. It's a lot less expensive -- and oftem more practical
-- to put together a station that may be competitive on only one or
a few bands. It seems like the 24-hour category would mostly serve the
160-through-10 killer stations with part-time ops who won't play if they
can't win. My suggestion? Invite a friend or two from your local radio
club to do guest-op or multi-op. I bet y'all will have a blast.
Also, the 24-hour contest-within-a-contest has a few problems that need
to be thought about. Particularly, what do I do when I've used up my 24
hours, and then I hear the new country I need for DX Honor Roll? Or I
hear a DX station desperately calling for Montana, or whatever semi-rare
state I'm in? Also, I'd hate to be disqualified for opertaing outside
my chosen 24 hours because some DX station mis-copied my call into his
log. (I often get QSL cards after the DX contests intended for K1MM and
N2MM, both active QSL managers. Some even with green stamps, though not
enough to make a living from.)
Perhaps the way to implement 24-inside-48 hours is to allow any amount
of operating and let the op carve out his/her best contiguous 24 hours.
This is similar to how single-band is currently done. But, frankly, I'm
still inclined to think that the addition of a 24-hour category does not
improve the quality of this contest.
Thanks for reading. --John/K2MM/WA1MUG
|