The last three weeks of discussion and debate (and yes, sometimes smoke and
flame) on
the subject of "part time contesting" have been a great learning experience for
me. At
times I probably didn't "keep my cool" too well, and I hereby sincerely
apologize to
anyone whose toes I bruised. Interestingly, the best ideas seemed to come in
just the
last couple of days, or maybe I just needed to hear them enough times for them
to sink
in.
After filtering through the collection, sometimes discounting the surface
emotion to find
the message underneath, here are my conclusions.
I think everyone agrees that the initial proposal of a shortened contest is a
BAD idea.
A "24-hour" category within the larger 48-hour format is a CONTROVERSIAL (maybe
bad,
maybe good) idea which needs much more examination, and possible implementation
should be on a controlled trial basis.
There were some genuinely GOOD ideas (and I'll miss some here):
--Participation trinkets such as Pins/Mugs (funded by recipient).
--Privately sponsored "side bet" contests for best "24-hour" effort.
--DXCC inside the contest, (WAS for DX?), Worked 30 Zones inside the contest,
and similar achievements. K1CC made some other especially good suggestions
in this regard.
Also, I thoght Richs' comments of "Achievement Vs. Competition" were
especially insightful. Is there a psychologist in the house? Perhaps this is
the
vehicle which brings more sustained participation from casual players.
Thanks folks, for the education.
de Hans K0HB
PS: My quad will beat your beam everytime, and Texans have an unfair
advantage in the XE2 groundwave contest.
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