I don't have a dog in the WPX hunt but will say that
moving the CQ 160 contests from the (then) full 42 hours to
30 out of 48 hours total was one of the best things that
ever happened to that contest for single ops. No longer
were you forced to call CQ during daylight with rates so
slow that they induced sleep. I believe most multiops
also wish their category was limited to 30 or 36 hours!
One consideration in changing the CQ 160 was
the fact that established single op records might become
difficult to break, given the reduction in operating time. I
didn't feel this would be a major issue since 30 hours is
full darkness for most areas of the world. A quick check
of the records shows that indeed 16 of 18 current world
single op records have been set under the new rules
which began in 2003.
However I believe this may be a concern with
changing to a 30 hour format in the WPX. I certainly
feel from my personal experience as a single op in
SOSB10 that it will become *very* difficult for anyone
to break existing records with a 6 hour reduction in
operating time. This might be one consideration the
WPX committee may want to consider. It's one thing
to change rules to increase scores (like the 1 point
for same country Qs change), but it's a more serious
consideration when the rule change may make it more
difficult to break existing records.
73, Bill W4ZV
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