This responds to Eric K3NA's posting. Generally I like his thinking, and
I hope a copy of his comments go to his CAC rep. My reaction is,
however, that some portions are overly restrictive and complex.
Bear in mind as you read the rest of this that I do not envision the SOA
Limited is in competition with the regular 48-hr folks, but with folks
within the SOA Limited category only. I think that is a KEY concept.
The strategies for this class are independent of the strategies of the 48
hour full-run group. Also, my CAC proposal is only intended as a
"strawman" prod CAC discussion/action, and is only engraved in Jello,
not granite. Frankly, I was surprised at the minimal response it has had
so far.
> . . . it would not make much sense to get on the low bands the first
> night to work the contest, if the initial operating period MUST be 8
> hours...
I agree..... 8 hours was an arbitrary selection on my part, and
subsequently I have had an interesting off-the-reflector exchange with
Alan N2ALE/6. He is a prime example of the folks we are trying to draw
into more operation. Currently a Tech+ who is limited to 10 meter
operation, but the contest bug is so strong you can see the gleem in his
eye here on the screen in his words. (When he upgrades, he disavows
all knowledge of 24-hour wimps!) He too argued for a shorter initial
period, and we sort of agreed that 4 hours sounded reasonable. Your
comments are equally persuasive.
> . . . during the course of the contest, he is NOT allowed to operate
> during the SAME clock hours on the two days of the contest.
Forgive me Eric, I don't mean this as a flame, but that strikes me as "If I
have to put up with the slow times, so should they." I feel we should
structure this so it's "fun", and that after a couple of runs some will
decide to "be somebody" and become "Real Contesters(tm)". Yes,
some will probably be "rate skimmers", but perhaps that's a legitimate
strategy within this class. I thought the following from W0CG was
particularly eloquent:
> This way, guys like me would be in the running to win, and still able to
> do so without completely forsaking our marriages, jobs, and kids
> on those weekends. It would be FUN again.
> And to the strong-men like K1AR, K3LR, K5ZD, WN4KKN/6, KW8N,
> KQ8M, WO0G (just to cover a range of call areas) please understand
> that I am NOT proposing an end to 48-hour contesting. You guys have
> all my respect. I hope the marathon strong-man category never goes
> away. Some day, when jobs are simpler (or gone) and the kids have
> moved out, I will be in there pitching for 48 hours.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Back to quoting Eric....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> . . .This approach is applicable to USA and Canada ONLY. For DX
> stations, we need to encourage them to be on the air for the openings
> into the USA.
My proposal treats only the ARRL DX contest, and I'm not sure we
should impose this on our DX friends. It smacks of "special treatment
for the home team", and since they can only work us (W/VE) for credit
anyhow, they are going to naturally operate during the openings to
North America. I think we should make it equally attractive to DX in
order to draw more of them out of the woodwork.
I admit, however, that in the case of CQWW it is a different kettle of
fish, and I really am not ready to stir up that pot yet!
de Hans, K0HB
|