Mark Beckwith wrote:
> I admit it might not have been clear, but my question was not "why
> does it need to be wedded to a contest," but why, specifically, the
> *IARU*?
A couple thoughts come to mind ...
Contest that allows "mixed mode" - what the WRTC teams will need to
maximize their score.
24 hours - means teams will need to know propagation and what bands to
be on when. They won't get a second chance the next day.
Scoring - we're chasing zones, so not many DXpeditions activating rare
"country multipliers" to distract from the WRTC competitors.
Weather - at least in the Northern Hemisphere (where all previous WRTC's
have been held), it's summertime, which usually means nice weather for
building 52 stations and other "festivities" associated with WRTC.
> Certainly it changes enough each time even within the IARU that there
> is not really a case for consistency. Is there?
>
> But seriously, the IARU has some liabilities for WRTC as far as I can
> tell.
Like what?
> Ultimately I would think this event would benefit from consistency,
> i.e. an identical event each time, but is this even possible?
IARU is consistent ... just like any other contest. And like every
other contest, it varies from year to year, day to day, and from hour to
hour. That's what makes them fun ... one never knows what to expect ...
the better ops adapt to what they are given.
> Is the WRTC evolving into such a fantastic, legitimate event that
> it could justify its own event? Is this so huge that it could
> justify retiring another event to keep the calendar reasonable?
> Would the I-A-R-Union themselves consider allowing the Radiosport to
> get moved out of July and be re-designed to center on the WRTC?
Why? The activity levels are such, that WRTC can fit within IARU. Why
a "new" event with new rules? We'd all work the 52 teams and then go
QRT? That's no fun.
> Should regional qualifying events be held during this contest in
> non-WRTC years?
In other WRTC's, past contest scores were used to select participants,
so every contest is basically a qualifying event!
> Should there be separate CW WRTCs and Phone WRTCs?
No ... a "mixed mode" competition allows the best overall operators to
duke it out ... not just the best CW or SSB ops. If you want to win,
you have to be good in both modes.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"! Yeah, you can tweak it from WRTC to
WRTC, but it's been successful so far since the 1990 running ... why
mess with it?
Ron, WD4AHZ
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