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Re: [CQ-Contest] NCJ Article RE: Sweepstakes Change Suggestions

To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] NCJ Article RE: Sweepstakes Change Suggestions
From: Bill via CQ-Contest <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Reply-to: cqtestk4xs@aol.com
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2018 13:33:29 -0400
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Lots of common sense in this post.


The main problem remains.  CW is a dying art and the FCC put that concept in 
high gear with no-code licenses.  People no longer have to, and most don't want 
to learn the code.  It's as simple as that.  If  you compare the checks in your 
logs you'll see lots of 2010-2017 for SSB but a much lower number for the CW.


Bill  KH7XS/K4XS



-----Original Message-----
From: W0MU Mike Fatchett <w0mu@w0mu.com>
To: cq-contest <cq-contest@contesting.com>; cac-i <cac-i@reflector.arrl.org>
Sent: Mon, Mar 19, 2018 3:51 pm
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] NCJ Article RE: Sweepstakes Change Suggestions

I don't receive the NCJ so I have not read the article.  What I gather is that 
most people feel that the SSB part of the contest is ok but the CW part is not. 
 If most people feel that SSB fine the way it is, are people suggesting we make 
sweeping changes to fix the CW portion and then possibly breaking both?The 
exchange is long.  It makes the contest different.  This is good.  As stated by 
many we have plenty of rate contests where copying is not part of the contest.I 
have heard of lots of ideas but none of them really address the issue which is 
getting more people involved on the CW side.  Their are plenty of people trying 
CW or are proficient enough at slower speeds.    Most of the ideas allow more 
contacts from the same participants on other bands or by using other callsigns. 
   The reason the radio/callsign rules were put in place as I understand it, 
that when the club competitions were fierce, I don't thing they are as much any 
more, people would use other calls and onl
 y work their club members.  I get that.  Good for them, but not good for the 
overall health of the contest.  I am sure people still do it, tough to catch.  
SO2R changed much of contesting, tough to put it back in the black box.Is the 
CW solution a simple as slowing down and encouraging new or less competent cw 
ops to want to call you or is the goal to run at 45wpm and work nobody and 
listen to endless CQ's?  Will slowing down even help?   Maybe the ARRL needs to 
print some articles on encouraging people to try SS CW and explaining it 
better?The last couple hours of SS can be pretty fun.  Many people get on just 
for that period.Who are we fixing the contest for?  The top 50  or 100 that are 
the real competitors or are we making it fun and better for all?What we could 
be doing is breaking down the classes and putting the SO2 elite ops in one 
category and then trying to figure out how to put the rest in appropriate 
categories so we can do a better job at acknowledging them and 
 creating competition with similar stations and skills.NAQP is great for 12 
hours.  How would it be for 24 hours.  I would suggest that it would get pretty 
slow on CW.  You can always milk SSB contacts on open bands.   Maybe the NAQP 
folks should give a 24 hour contest a try and see how it goes.  NAQP has been 
around a long time now if it was be so great, why has it never been 
tried?Changing for the sake of change is not a good idea.   Is the contest 
really broke?  I don't think so.  Could it be improved?  Maybe. Could we make 
it worse? easily!  Making large changes would change what the contest is.  I 
don't think that is a good 
idea.W0MU_______________________________________________CQ-Contest mailing 
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