Sylvan,
While it would be nice to have a perfect contest where operator skill
alone is measured, I don't think it is practical to do this unless you
have an event like the Goodwill Games or the Russian "On-Sight"
contest where all operators are operating from roughly the same
geographic location with equal antennas, radios, and power levels. I
do not believe it is practical to fairly account for all the other
variables of propagation, geography, antenna gain, solar flux,
geomagnetic activity, aurora, and local QRM, no matter how much
computational power is at your disposal.
More important, in my view, is that the purpose of amateur radio
contesting is to promote BOTH operator skill AND communications
effectiveness. If my "handicap" were such that I could
effectively compete with only 100 watts and a dipole, they why would I
ever bother to improve my station? If my handicap lets me win the
America's cup with a dinghy, why would I try to build a better boat?
When you compete in the Indy 500, it is not only the driver, but also
the car and the pit crew who are competing. The same is true of
amateur radio contesting. The bigger your antennas, the more fun you
will have (both in and out of the contest). Whatever the rules, they
should encourage a competitor to improve his or her station, not
discourage him or her.
Race drivers and yacht racers all compete on the same course.
Contesters generally do not. Amateur radio contesting is unique in
that aspect. It may be nearly impossible for people who live in an
Auroral Black Hole to finish near the top, given the present rules.
Let me offer an alternative.
Consider a ranking based solely on your own past performance in that
contest the previous year. The competitor that improves the most
year-to-year, on a percentage basis, would win.
Of course, reasonable rules might require that the contest be operated
for the full time in both years, and from the same address, and with
the same power level.
This proposal has several advantages:
1) No rules changes (the old top 10 box is still used for traditional
awards)
2) No records are rendered meaningless by rules changes (same point
system as before)
3) Encourages and publicly recognizes improvements to both operator
skill and station effectiveness
4) No propagation or geographic advantage; you compete against yourself
in relative terms, and against others on equal terms
5) Encourages long-term participation since you have to compete
in the same contest at least twice to be listed in the new
"Top 10 Improvers" box.
Disadvantages:
1) Unscrupulous people could cheat by using a straight key the
first year, and a keyer the second. Such "bogus" score
improvements would have to be audited somehow.
2) Requires more bookeeping by the sponsors so that year-to-year
improvements can be tracked.
Comments anyone?
73,
Bob, N6TV
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