> The dB-SCORE is much bigger for the stacks than for the SO2R. I sense a
> desire to create an "Expert class vs an Intermediate class" rather than
> differentiate based on hardware. If that's what you want, then spell it
> out.
I am not so sure it is Expert vs Intermediate. This kind of assumes the
difference is only skill and not set-up. There are lots of very skilled
contestants who don't have either the real estate or the money to create a
technologically advanced station. They just want to be able to compare
their contest performance to other with a similar setup. I don't think two
classes is the answer.
> sorting and comparing, trying to rationalize their respective places in
the
> standings, rather than taking efforts to improve their stations. You can
Wait a second. A few postings ago there were claims that SO2R was all about
skill and not about technology and now the claim seems to be that if you
spend time looking for ways to improve skill (and strategy is part of skill)
then it might be a waste of time :) I suspect that by exploring how well
others who had a similar set-up did in a contest, a dedicated contestant
could gather some ideas on how to improve their performance. For example,
consider contestants who ran 100w and a tribander on 40ft tower but some ran
SO2R and were packet assisted. Being able to compare the preformance of the
across these groups might not only give the contestants more information but
it might give all of us more information to inform our debates.
> standardized in format, etc. And creating a truly searchable database
> requires strict data entry rules which would make getting your Cabrillo
log
> accepted even more daunting.
Perhaps you are assuming that information has to be detailed when in fact it
could be simple yes/no (binary) categorical information - like SO2R
(yes/no), assisted (yes/no), tribander (yes/no), etc. There is a lot of
information that can be easily be collected this way that will provide all
contestants with more information. And if the information is garbled or
missing the line(s) in the cabrillo log with this supplementary information
can be ignored because it is non critcal and the fields in the database can
be left empty. With a bit of thought and a cleverness - which the amateur
radio community is full of - surely we can figure this out.
... Sylvan
Sylvan Katz, VE5ZX
Saskatoon, SK
http://www.dynamicforesight.com/~ve5zx
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