K4OJ wrote:
>HOWEVER...SINCE SS IS TO US LIKE WRTC WILL BE IN EUROPE!
I disagree Jim. I entered a couple of IARU Contests from Colorado
(finishing 2nd twice to K1TO!) and it is much more than a domestic contest.
You must understand worldwide propagation very well since ITU zones and HQ
stations count for multipliers on EACH band. Sweepstakes only covers
about 10 of the 75 ITU zones geographically and count multipliers ONCE.
That being said, Sweepstakes does have an important thing going for it which
is high participation and that should give strong weighting to a high finish.
I would hope that the CCF, who makes the final selection from
those nominated, would consider both ARRL DX and Sweepstakes results since
they were also criteria for selecting the USA contest clubs.
(CCF Wildcard handicap points listed as follows:)
*******************************************************************************
Handicap points:
with handicap points you can scale the rating score . Contests are separated
to three divisions (these are contests used in
WRTC2002 rating, normally there is more contests listed):
Division I : CQWW DX Contest - handicap points: 500
Division II: CQ WPX Contest - handicap points: 600
Division III: IARU Contest - handicap points: 700 (WRTC2000 handicap 350)
This means if your score is 50% lower than the winning score, your ranking
points will be -250 pts, -300pts and -350pts
respectively (without penalty points).
******************************************************************************
For USA team selection by CCF, I would think something like the
following should be considered:
ARRL DX Contest - handicap points: 500
Sweepstakes Contest - handicap points: 600
My reasoning is that the ARRL DX is quite similar to the CQ WW (for USA
participants only) and it enjoys nearly as high USA participation. SS
also has high participation, but IMHO results are not as representative
of a worldwide contest like CQ WW or ARRL DX, hence slightly more penalty
points, but ahead of IARU which has lower USA participation. My assumptions
on participation are only my guess and others might have the actual statistics.
Speaking as someone who has operated only in single band or multiop
the past few years, I was happy to see CCF's penalty point system (for SOSB,
Multiops, etc.) attempt to normalize those who have not entered only SOAB.
Multiop results are an important indicator of teamwork which is essential
in WRTC. Overall, I think the CCF criteria have been very well thought out
and are a good model for clubs worldwide to follow in making their selections.
73, Bill W4ZV
P.S. CCF rating is at: http://213.28.167.85/wrtc2002/ccfrate.htm
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