An interesting way to run a 24 hour sub-contest within a 48 hour contest
would be along the lines of what is done with the German Markrothen RTTY
Contest. In that one the entire contest runs 8 hours on, 8 off, 8 on, 8 off,
and 8 on. So it is a 24 hour contest spread out over 40 hours with all the
24 hours of the solar day being part of the contest.
In the context of a 48 hour contest this category would allow 24 hours, but
require that the hours spent operating one day would have to be off times
the other.
One major, and valid, objection to shortened periods is that the winning
strategy would be to run Europe for about 20 of the 24 hours, and cherry pick
needed multipliers for the rest of the time. So guys outside Europe would
see less activity during the hours that the bands favored their areas.
Such a format would be a nice break for guys in places like Japan, where
the 48 hour period ends as they are headed off to, or are at, work at 8 am
on Monday morning. And the church goers elsewhere would have an easy choice
of which day to operate the morning openings.
Minimum operating periods, how to handle accidental overlaps, etc., would
be open for discussion, but to me this seems like a natural way to divide up
a half time event.
73 - Jim K8MR
In a message dated 6/16/2009 3:42:34 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
k5go@cox.net writes:
Attempts have been made in some contests to create new categories where
ones with wires or tribanders can compete on a more level basis. Most
contests have categories for different power levels.
The one item that I think is most important and currently ignored is the
time of operation. In a world of children, grandchildren, other family
obligations, honey do's to keep the YF happy, and an aging group of
contesters,
many cannot compete because they cannot work the contest the entire
period, which in many cases is 48 hours.
I would only have categories that encourage enhancement of station
performance and instead include categories in a 48 hour contest for perhaps 12
hour, 24 hour and 48 hour operating time - 24 and 48 hour for sure. There are
a lot of people out there who would do really well if they could stay up
for 48 hours but cannot ever win anything with a 24 hour effort. Off times
should be longer than what most are used to having in Sweepstakes and other
contests with time limits Perhaps a maximum of four off-times with a
minimum of 6 hours for each would be appropriate for a 24 hour entry.
I can see a lot of people getting excited about competing in a contest if
they had a way of doing it without having to commit to the entire 48 hour
period.
Stan, K5GO
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