From: <W2CE@aol.com>
> The idea of a category for a part time operation would be nice but how
long
> and where in the contest becomes a very questionable item.
>
> Why load the tail end of the SS for the big stations who have worked
everyone
> else and need their last feeding frenzy.
Is there really ANY way to add participation in such a way that it only
benefits the little guy and the big guns can't get in on it? You get 500
more stations on the air ANY time in the contest and most of them will
be in the logs of the expert contesters. Purpose is to enliven Sunday
evening, not somehow fix it so the "big stations" can't work stations in
the increase.
> Why limit the short time category to Sunday only where some may be
free
> Saturday but have church and family commitments on Sunday, and yes
into the
> evening.
Because SUNDAY evening is the wasteland and getting wastelandier by the
year, not Saturday. And I can pretty well guarantee that if the sprint
category includes Saturday night, then it will quickly become that the 8
hours at the start of the contest is where you win the sprint, further
accelerating the Sunday evening wastelandiness.
> No playing field will ever be level and attempts to create categories
to
> please everyone is impossible.
I don't think this proposal has anything at all to do with a level
playing field or pleasing some crushed minority. Stations working the
sprint section will have nowhere near the scores of serious stations
working 24 hours. Though working a clean sweep in the sprint section
would be a HUGE accomplishment (without packet).
> SS is a contest long standing in tradition and has many roots back to
the
> early days of amateur radio and traffic handling. I am not pleased
with the
> idea of changes to the SS, not even the collegiate part that was
added. It
> diverted greatly from the traditions of SS and added a unique category
of a
> small percentage of operators.
If you check your old QST's you will see that Sweepstakes has a long
tradition of rules changes, starting WAY back when. Even so, the SS is
STILL the closest that many hams will ever come to traffic handling.
> A lesser hour category is fine, it would sure place me in a different
> competitive aspect.
>
> I would think more of a 10 hour category with the operator to choose
when he
> can operate and the band conditions to work multipliers competivitely.
I
> would like to see 10 hours anywhere within the contest with a minimum
> operating block of 1 hour.
The idea was to try something to fix Sunday evening before it becomes
totally irrelevant and gets whacked from the rules because noone
operates after 4 pm any more. 1 pm to 10 pm (EST) on Sunday catches ALL
the bands open and forces some tough choices. Without the entire contest
for multipliers to happen by on your CQ frequency, one will have to
seriously consider a mix of S&P for mults and on what bands. Probably
strategy in a Sunday evening sprint section would be more important than
the main contest.
Remember the 3 bonus hours at the end of field day which didn't make any
difference because noone was on to make contacts with? That's where
Sunday evening is headed.
Who invented this idea? Best contest rule change proposal I've seen on
the reflector since I've been reading it.
73, y'all.
- - . . . . . . - - . . . . - - . . - . .
73, Guy
k2av@contesting.com
Apex, NC, USA
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