Good morning to the contest group.
After following the WPX Contest discussion points, I would like to
offer a summary from the *DX* perspective:
1. 0 points
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i) It is noticable that the big M/M stations were missing from
the phone weekend.
ii) Some contesters report that present rules make it a disadvantage
to have a *rare* prefix.
iii) Stations who are remote from the East Coast or West Coast
feel disadvantaged in the WPX.
Recommendation
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All contacts should earn a minimum of 1 point on 20/15/10M,
and 2 points on 160/80/40M.
2. Hours
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i) Present rules provide only 36 hours of the 48 for single
operator stations. Multi-single, and multi-multi may operate
the full 48 hours.
Some single operators prefer 36 hours as they have the endurance,
and wish to exploit all band openings.
ii) Some single operators would prefer the *old* rule of 30 hours
out of the full 48 hours.
It leaves some time out to be with the family during the
contest weekend.
The shorter period enforces the need for a band strategy, to
make best advantage out of the *on* peroids.
Hours are not an issue with the single op/single band sections-
usually the chosen band is closed for at least 9 hours per day,
leaving 30 hours on for the contest.
Recommendation
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Change back to the *old* rule of only 36 hours of the 48 for single
operator stations. Multi-single, and multi-multi stations
may operate the full 48 hours.
3. Publishing Results
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i) Present timescale is for CQ Magazine to publish the 1996
results in the month before the 1997 contest. For overseas
operators, this means that the mail with the 1996 results does
not arrive until after the 1997 contest has taken place.
This delay in reporting is bizarre, and is a real disincentive
for stations to submit logs.
ii) Access to the Internet is becoming more widespread, and
"Jimmy R. Floyd" <floydjr@interpath.com>
is providing a valuable service on the CQ-Contest reflector
by listing scores and band breakdowns.
iii) The trend will be for less contesters to subscribe for
the magazine, and for more to rely on the Internet summaries.
iv) Certificates are reported to be either late or very late,
and accordingly are losing significance.
Recommendation
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An alternative approach may be to arrange a volunteer to
accept e-mail submissions of summary sheet and the WPX.bin file
to support it.
The Internet summary of results could be taken as final,
with results available one month after the contest.
Contest programs have already removed dupes, and cheating
is unlikely.
At least in my case, I get more enjoyment out of reading the
Jimmy WA4ZXA summaries, than I will by reading the official
results a year later.
Regards,
Martin ZL1ANJ
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