Fantastic. I can tell you put a lot of thought into this.
This is the kind of discussion I am trying to stimulate. Perhaps CQWW
never changes, so be it. It is fun as it is.
Maybe what we get out of this is a whole new contest. Will anyone
complain about a new major contest? I doubt it.
Wally, LZ2CJ also had some great ideas. With open logs, another sponsor
could score the same contest differently.
David ~ KY1V
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Scott Currier
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 10:16 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] A principle to go by when evaluating contest
rules.
I think that it is reasonable to have an idea of what you want the
contest to measure before designing your contest. Start the process by
laying out your goals.
As far as the CQ-WW DX contest goes, the contest sponsors state that the
objective is for Amateurs around the world to contact as many other hams
in as many zones and countries as possible.
Ok, that being said, why are continents figured in the scoring? Does
figuring in continents help or hinder the stated objective?
I think it hinders it because in effect it changes the objective. You
now need to contact as many hams as possible on OTHER continents. That's
not what the original objective says. Therefore the scoring system isn't
matched properly to the objective.
The real CQ WW Dx objective is to work as many hams around the world in
as many zones and countries as possible, provided they're on different
continents.
So, what do you have to do now? Easy, get as close to the population
centers as possible without being on the same continent.
That monkey wrench of the continent issue really throws things off and
creates a situation where the winner and person behind him are separated
not by who worked the most countries or zones but by something not even
in the objective of the contest. They happened to make a lot more 3point
q's because of the continent issue.
If it's not in the objective, why does it have such prominence in the
scoring?
WPX is even worse.
WPX sponsor states that the objective is as follows...
I. Objective: For amateurs world wide to contact as many amateurs
and prefixes as possible during the contest period.
If that is the case, then why more points if the other station is on a
different continent? If the objective is to believed, why more points
for use of the lower HF bands?
The objective is not to work as many hams and prefixes as possible, it's
to contact as many hams and prefixes on different continents and on the
lower bands as possible if you want to get the highest score for the
number of contacts that you make.
The scoring is out of line with the contest objective.
Extra points because of distance, continent, zone, band, or anything
else aren't part of the objective and therefore don't belong if the
objective is to be believed, which it clearly is not.
According to the contest sponsors, the name of the game is prefixes.
According to the scoring it's prefixes with a rather large disclaimer
and strings attached. In other words, these prefixes over here are
better than those prefixes over there. At least for some people.
If the contest is part dx contest and part prefix contest, put that in
the objective.
With that being said, it seems to me that contest rules need to be
looked at to see if they support the contest objectives or move the
contest in a different direction.
After all, without knowing what the sponsors are looking to accomplish,
how can you tell whether or not a rule makes sense? The objectives are
your reference point.
73 all and good contesting.
Scott Currier KT1B
Haverhill, MA
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