Let me see if I have this right: There's something wrong with a station
with a rare prefix having an advantage in a Prefix Contest!
However, it's OK for a station in Delaware or Wyoming to have an advantage
in Sweepstakes, or a station in Morocco or the Canary Islands to have an
advantage in a DX contest.
Let's get real... every contest has an advantage for someone! Otherwise,
we could change all the contests to an accumulation of QSO's with no
multipliers. Most of us would find this very boring.
In almost every contest I can think of, the way to avail oneself of a
geographic advantage that is inherent in the structure of the contest is to
GO TO THE PLACE THAT HAS THE ADVANTAGE.
In the same manner, the way to get an advantage in a prefix contest is to
acquire or borrow a call with a rare prefix. We all have to make choices.
Almost any contester determined to get a rare prefix for the WPX contest
can do so by applying for a rare-prefix 2x1 as a vanity call. Actually, of
course, far more contesters have used the vanity call program to abandon
2x1's in favor of 1x2's than the other way around. Many of them gave up an
advantage in WPX in the process... but that's the choice they made. We all
have to order our priorities on a continuing basis, and contesting is no
exception. It's an imperfect world, and we all make choices every day that
work to the advantage of some things, and to the disadvantage of others.
Here endeth the reading.
Rich K2WR
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