Thanks to K2AV for writing this for me.
For years I've been doing SOMS - Single Op, Multi Station - in the CW SS.
That contest becomes really fun when the rate goes *UP* as the contest goes
on.
Last year, needing another serious single operator entry for WRTC ranking,
I did a traditional one station effort from AC8E. I won the Great Lakes
Division, and was bored out of my mind after the first 14 hours or so.
I don't understand the ARRL's phobia about the use of more than one call
per transmitter or QTH (family stations exempted). It's not going to prevent
manufactured contacts - somebody doing that simply would not send in a log
for that call(s).
CQ doesn't share the phobia, and I like it. In the recent CQ 160 contest I
started over the second night as W3USA, and was running 120 hours with low
power. It was a lot more fun than tuning around trying to keep the rate
above 40. I hope nobody I worked twice minded. (I also got back on for the
last hour Sunday afternoon as K8MR, for another 40 or so QSOs. But I would not
object to the concept of forbidding this).
I would suggest a couple of variations on what K2AV suggested. I don't see
a need to limit an operator to 24 hours among the various calls. If he is
still going strong at hour 24 at 0200z Monday, let him go. I don't see the
need to limit it to two calls. And I don't see need for an off time when
switching calls, But these are minor points.
I sense that there are lots of people who by the end of SS (or other
contests) who know they aren't going to win and don't care. But they would have
a lot of fun as "fresh meat". And the rest of us contest carnivores would be
delighted to take what they offer.
73 - Jim
In a message dated 2/1/2013 7:26:15 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
olinger@bellsouth.net writes:
Reads like, you can do anything, except the rules are off the table, so
basically you are talking about people selling the Sweepstakes. Clubs will
for club competition. But individuals to other individuals? Folks do
this
word of mouth thing and that's how good things grow.
But you take the rules entirely off the table and you hope the big clubs
are in there. After that, you wanna pay money to advertise the SS on TV?
The biggest individually self-limiting aspect the contest has is
saturation. Work out the stations and slow way down, but this encourages
"fresh meat" stations on Sunday that get a lot of attention. At PVRC we
tell the guys that can only put in 5-6-7 hours to do it on Sunday, and run,
not S&P, and forget about chasing mults on spots. If by increased
participation you mean total QSO count, that strategy works.
If someone could suggest a rule change, and this is partially allowed now,
but is a mechanical nightmare, and that is starting over with a new call
sign. If you change stations and use "unused" transmitters you can do it
now. NCCC used it extensively at one time.
You could ALLOW a second call sign to be used at the same station on the
same equipment by the same operator. Once second call sign in use, log of
first call sign used by that op is frozen and can't be used again in the
contest. Either call sign could only be used once in the contest and
cannot have overlapping start and finish times. Stop of one and start of
the other must be separated by a legal off time (30 minutes currently)
Think everything you need to enforce that is in the log. With that rule
some of us in club competition would start Sunday morning with second call
sign. The timing of the switch to maximize a club score would be a real
science. A pair of logs from the same operator would be listed and scored
separately, eligible for awards only separately. Separate log submission
to the robot. The two logs combined subject to the 24 hour limit. It
would sure change Sunday afternoon. Let the clubs worry about how they
award their internal awards.
Those who want to max out for top scores and awards just keep doing what
they are doing. Just more call signs to work overall. "Double-signing"
would be optional and up to the individual. Doesn't mess with records,
other rules, just allows an option that might make Sundays fun.
If you want to leave it to the operator whether they want to sleep or not,
then just say that the log of one call in a pair must have all its "on"
times entirely within the legal "off" times of the other, and all current
rules for time and max still apply to each log separately. ARRL log
scoring program handle that easily. Operators would restart logging
program on the other call. Logging program coders would be asked to not
support instant call flipping.
The improvement in total score from an individual op's two logs would come
not so much from lack of sleep as it would from making Sunday meaningful
when you've operated hard on Saturday.
That's a rule change that wouldn't mess with scoring, records, awards, etc,
and would increase the total QSO count, especially on Sunday. Clubs would
need to strategize. But they're deep into that already.
Just a thought.
73, Guy.
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