On Thursday, 24 January 2002, Bill Olson wrote:
> What good does it do to give
> EVERYBODY in the contest a boost in QSO totals?? ("Thanks for the SSB qso,
> OM, now please go to CW")
Oh, come on Bill...you can't do that anyway. Rule 1.4 of "General
Rules for ARRL Contests on bands above 50MHz" states...
-- Stations may be worked for credit only once per band from
any given grid square REGARDLESS OF MODE--
> The entry level
> contesters would most likely NOT see it as incentive to learn code, and
> would just make them less able to compete - a negative incentive.
I would have thought the opposite would have been true. My thoughts
are that it would give entry level contesters *more* incentive to
learn the code. On this we disagree.
> Plus, while I am a big proponent of CW in contests and ALWAYS use the mode,
> what are we trying to accomplish here?? Get more operators on CW before we
> "lose the mode"??
Not really. In fact, I think you answered that question in your own
post Bill. It gives one the ability to make a QSO that might otherwise
wouldn't have been possible (given an existing noise level and
propagation at the time). I think we all can point to CW QSOs that
in all probability couldn't have been completed on SSB.
> I don't think giving more points for cw contacts helps anything. It WILL
> alienate stations who do not or do not wish to use CW.
Or give them the incentive to "get after it". Sounds as if you've
given up on our entry level VHF contesters Bill. I've given them a
lot more credit and know many that are working hard at it. Who knows,
after learning it, it may turn out to be their favorite mode (which
is what happened to me). Naw, I don't think they're going to play
dead and I wish you had more confidence in them.
73 //Gary *K8KFJ*
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