Yup Bill, I keep hearing the call for a "level playing field" too. I've been
thinking about this for awhile now...
Here's some examples of "level playing fields" in competitive sports; hockey,
soccer, basketball, baseball, etc... And here's some examples of "unlevel
playing fields" in competitive sports; The Iditarod, downhill ski racing, aero
acrobatics, Pike's Peak Hill Climb, radiosport, etc...
We don't hear a lot of whining about a level playing field from the competitors
in the "unlevel playing field" categories now, do we?... oh... wait... except
for the ham radio crowd! There's a constant S-7 noise level from that group.
So, here's my solution to squelch any unfair advantage of one WRTC team over
another:
"The Ultimately Level Playing Field" We need to find a ham-friendly farmer
with thousands of acres of wheat fields in North Dakota and convince him to
stage WRTC from his property. (Maybe a corporate farm, like ADM, might like to
sponsor this for the publicity?) This would be a field day type setup. Each
team, separated by a couple of KM, would get a 3 meter square shed, table and
chairs, a bunk, a 5-kW genset, one 40 foot tower with yagi, wire for antennas,
and one "port-a-potty," placed close-by but down-wind from the shed. Much of
North Dakota is nice and flat... how flat is it?... well rumor has it that's
where they ship all Stanley levels to be inspected and tested before shipping
to their dealers... so this is your ultimate "level playing field" if you
will... and it's also a desirable state for WAS chasers too. Oh, and don't
forget, you can toss in the added 30 dB attenuation from the auroral blanket.
Then the competitors will have the finest "level playing field" any
one has ever seen!
73 de Bob - K0RC
P.S. For the humor impaired, this is tongue-in-cheek, a look at leveling the
playing field once and for all.
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 08:35:12 -0500
From: "FireBrick" <w9ol@billnjudy.com>
Subject: [RTTY] So2r debate
To: "RTTY List" <rtty@contesting.com>
Message-ID: <006801c6ac01$646d0950$6701a8c0@MEDIA>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
I don't have a horse in this race. But I do have one comment.
I keep seeing the phrase 'Level Playing Field'.
After playing in the last few WRTC championships, I definitely learned one
thing.
'There ain't no such critter!'
I'm not talking about op skill. Even though the host countries tried to supply
stations as
similar as possible for all contestants, I still noticed dramatic differences
in signals.
In this last WRTC, there were stations that had a distinct signal advantage
over others.
This wasn't a 'at one time' situation. I noted a consistent advantage to
certain stations.
So much for 'level playing field'.
Make whatever rules, classes, you wish, it won't LEVEL the field, just make
MORE fields.
(still have my firefighting gear, flame away)
-----------------------------------------------------
Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better
have a good
hand. Mae West
-----------------------------------------------------
Bill H. in Chicagoland
webcams at http://24.14.49.4:8080
weather at http://hhweather.webhop.org
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