Bill, W4AN, commented:
> This contest, because of its time of year, point
>structure, and multiplier structure, is the closest thing to a fair contest.
For those who want to move the WPX CW to earlier in the year, I think this
is a significant comment. One thing that makes the WPX CW interesting is
that it occurs within a month of the summer solstice, with the large amount
of daylight over the pole keeping Northern Hemisphere MUF's higher than
they would be in the winter in low-sunpot years. The same can be said for
conditions during the
IARU.
Bill continues:
>Only complaint is the number of HQ stations that are now QRV. At what point
>do we decide that it is ridiculous? 10 years ago there were a few HQ
>stations. In my estimation, there should be a fixed number of HQ stations
>and they should be distributed equally around the globe. Not 30 in Europe.
>Why can't there be 10 HQ stations and they are allocated every year to
>different countries/locations?
I didn't know any contest was created to provide a level playing field for
all participants. Rather I thought the idea is to maximize activity.
Theoretically the IARU HF Championship encourages IARU Member Societies to
organize contest activities on this weekend. The idea of "limiting"
activity in any contest is a non-starter as far as I am concerned. Rather
than implicitly criticize the Europeans for the great turnout of IARU
Member Society stations in their region, they should be congratulated for
the effort, and we should all resolve to do what we can to encourage each
IARU Member Society in Latin America and Asia to field IARU stations in
next year's contest. As Editor of IARU Region 2 News (Region 2 is North
and South America) and since I will be attending the IARU Region 3 (Asia
and Pacific) Conference in September, I resolve to do my part to make this
happen.
It is true that IARU Region 1 (Europe, Africa, ex-USSR, Middle East) has
many more Member Societies than either of the other two IARU Regions, but
the way IARU Region 1 is organized also encourages organized contest
activity. IARU Region 1 has long had an HF Committee, which in turn has a
Contest Sub-Group. This means that in each IARU Region 1 Member Society
there is a person who is responsible for encouraging and supporting contest
activity in his/her country.
IARU Region 2 has just created an HF Committee (headed by Region 2
Vice-President, contester and DX'er Ron Szama, LU2AH) and hopefully this
Committee will begin to obtain some of the same results as have been
obtained in Europe.
IARU Region 3 does not have an HF Committee yet, but maybe this year's
Conference will change that.
73, Fred
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