CQ-Contest
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [CQ-Contest] How many hours do SOAB entrants actually operate?

To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How many hours do SOAB entrants actually operate?
From: Aldewey@aol.com
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2013 07:51:56 -0400 (EDT)
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
As had been mentioned, this is something that has been looked as in the  
past by the ARRL CAC. The issue of whether it would increase or decrease  
participation was debated at length.  The effect of diluting  competition as 
well as the costs of adding additional categories was also  considered.  At the 
time, it was decided to make no change to the 48  hour rule for Single 
Operators.  
 
Still, I think the idea really has merit.  As a single op, I  absolutely 
love the hours or IARU and sell as RXDX.  And it was nice to see  WPX cut back 
on their hours for Single Op AB.
 
Rightly or wrongly, the way this works is for ARRL membership to bring  
this suggestion up with your ARRL Director.  For those of you who feel  adding 
a 24 hour category to ARRL DX for Single OP AB (or even replacing  the 48 
hour category with lesser hours), I encourage you to put pressure on your  
ARRL Director to consider this change.  If enough pressure is put on the  ARRL 
Board, it is likely the CAC will be asked to consider it again.   Possibly, 
the result could be different this time.
 
73,
 
Al, K0AD
 
 
In a message dated 4/4/2013 5:28:52 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
wc1m73@gmail.com writes:

I  believe a more accurate term for what Dave opposes is "Any contiguous  
24",
rather than "best 24 out of 48". 

The other alternative is "Any  24", which allows the op to choose whichever
24 hours he/she wishes to  operate. Note that off-times must have a minimum
duration, usually 30 or 60  minutes, to make this format work.

There are arguments for and against  both formats:

Contiguous-24

Pro: Requires the operator to  demonstrate knowledge of propagation on all
bands and/or antenna-building  expertise that includes all 6 contest bands.
It also forces low band  activity, which helps to offset the worry that a
24-hour category will hurt  low-band participation. It also requires
significant stamina, albeit much  less than a 40+ hour effort.

Con: Requires operating for 24 hours  straight, effectively an 
"all-nighter",
which gets us back to the endurance  and health issues. It's less friendly 
in
terms of allowing operators to  schedule their time to both participate in
the contest and do other things  over the weekend, like run errands, do
chores, watch/attend ball games and  spend time with the family -- 
especially
on holiday  weekends.

Any-24

Pro: Requires strategy to optimize operating  hours. Allows for plenty of
rest and sleep, and is schedule and family  friendly -- no more fighting 
over
Thanksgiving and Memorial Day  weekend.

Con: Allows the op to "cherry-pick" the hours, operating only  when the rate
is high. This could hurt low-band participation.

A  variation on Any-24 that offsets the impact on low band participation is
to  require a minimum number of operating hours between 0000z and 0900z, or
to  award extra points for low-band contacts like WPX. There could be all
sorts  of variations designed to spread out the operating time and bands.

We  already have experience with both of these formats:

- IARU is a  "Contiguous-24" contest, though you can't choose which 24. It
starts at the  beginning of the high-rate openings between US and EU, which
would probably  be a popular choice for start time if we had a Contiguous-24
category. IARU  requires that you have a good understanding of propagation 
on
all the bands  and have effective antennas on them. It also requires the
ability to pull  an all-nighter. 

- ARRL Sweepstakes is an "Any-24" contest. Off times  must be at least 30
minutes. It requires strategy to choose your operating  times so that you 
can
capture mults from all parts of the US and Canada.  Mults count only once,
not once per band. Normally that would eliminate the  incentive to operate
the low bands, but the need to work stations that are  usually in the
high-band skip zones forces you to operate on the low  bands.

- WPX is an "Any-36" contest with double points for low-band  contacts.
Off-times must be at least 60 minutes. It requires strategy to  choose your
off-times and decide when and where to work non-US for points  and when to
work US for mults. Mults count only once, not once per band. So  while the
double points ensure you must work 40, you don't necessarily have  to work
160, 80 (in the CW contest), 10 or 15 (in low sunspot  years).

With some creativity, I think it would be possible to craft  rules for
24-hour categories in CQ WW and ARRL DX that would make them  both
challenging and enjoyable.

73, Dick WC1M

>  -----Original Message-----
> From: David Gilbert  [mailto:xdavid@cis-broadband.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 1:44  PM
> To: cq-contest@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How  many hours do SOAB entrants actually
> operate?
> 
>  
> I have been arguing here for a 24 hour category, but I am also  strongly
> opposed to "best 24 out of 48" instead of simply 24 hours  max.  "Best 24
> out of 48" defeats the entire intent ... it takes  away the strategic
> requirement to choose your operating hours wisely,  and as Joe says it
> turns it back to an iron butt contest  anyway.
> 
> Dave   AB7E
> 
> 
>  
> On 4/3/2013 6:26 AM, Joe wrote:
> > That I do not like  tho!
> >
> > Take the "Best" is defeating the purpose of the  shorter 24 hours idea.
> > If it is the best it forces the station to  again operate the full 48
> > because who knows the conditions may  explode sunday,
> >
> > This again makes it a big gun iron  butt contest and not a true 48 hr
> > contest.
> >
>  > Joe WB9SBD
> > Sig
> > The Original Rolling Ball  Clock
> > Idle Tyme
> > Idle-Tyme.com
> >  http://www.idle-tyme.com
> > On 4/2/2013 8:18 AM, RT Clay  wrote:
> >> I am one person who might operate more if there was a  24 hour
> >> category. Right now I only operate Sprint, NAQP,  IARU, and SS because
> >> those I can fit in my schedule.
>  >>
> >> I would suggest that anyone operating more than 24  hours be
> >> automatically entered in the 24 category- software  could easily
> >> determine the "best" 24 hour period for those  entrants. If the 24
> >> hour period was chosen that way,  operating MORE than 24 hours would
> >> be the best way to get a  top 24-hour score.
> >> So I doubt
> >> it would  decrease much the time people put it.
> >>
> >> With  access to contest logs (with bad qsos removed by log checkers)
>  >> it would be easy for a 3rd party to calculate the best 24  hours
> >> scores.
> >>
> >> Tor
>  >> N4OGW/5
> >>
> >>
> >>
>  >>
> >>
> >>  ________________________________
> >> From: Steve London  <n2icarrl@gmail.com>
> >> To: Christian Schneider  <prickler.schneider@t-online.de>
> >> Cc:  cq-contest@contesting.com
> >> Sent: Mon, April 1, 2013 7:16:51  PM
> >> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How many hours do SOAB entrants  actually
> >> operate?
> >>
> >> Thanks  for the data, Chris.
> >>
> >> In the 24 hour RDXC, 9%  operate full time (>23 hours).
> >> In the 48 hour CQWW SSB  (using KR2Q data), 11.9% operate 24 hours or
> >> more.
>  >>
> >> So, presented with a shorter contest, the percentage  who choose to
> >> operate full time is actually less than the  percentage who operate 24
> >> or more hours in a 48 hour  contest.
> >>
> >> I fail to see how adding a 24 hour  category to a 48 hour contest will
> >> encourage more people to  operate even 24 hours.
> >>
> >> 73,
> >>  Steve, N2IC
> >>
> >> On 04/01/2013 01:19 PM,  Christian Schneider wrote:
> >>> N2IC wrote: How about looking  at the statistics for those major
> >>> worldwide contests that  are already 24 hours long, such as the IARU
> >>> HF, and  Russian DX ? What percentage of participants currently
> >>>  operate more than, say
> >>> 22 hours
> >>> ?  I'm sure there is a reader of this list has access to that data.
>  >>> Are the
> >>> "24 hour category" folks walking  their talk ?
> >>> ------------------------------------
>  >>>
> >>>
> >>> Hi Steve,
>  >>> in four RDXCs 11 to 15 percent of the SOAB operated 20 to 24  hours
> >>> with up
> >>> to 9 percent having  23:xx hours.
> >>> See  http://www.dl8mbs.de/40984/45289.html
> >>> 73, Chris  (DL8MBS)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>  _______________________________________________
> >> CQ-Contest  mailing list
> >> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> >>  http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
> >>  _______________________________________________
> >> CQ-Contest  mailing list
> >> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> >>  http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>  >>
> >>
> >
> >  _______________________________________________
> > CQ-Contest  mailing list
> > CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> >  http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
> >
>  


_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest  mailing  list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest

_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>