As the only station to get "beat" as an unassisted op by an assisted op for
first place honors in the 6 "majors" listed for 2006, I believe that I can
state my opinion on this subject.
1) I would like to see a Low Power Assisted category in these contests. I
think that there are quite a few excellent ops with decent stations who would
be motivated to go "all out" where they are less likely to today. Either
because they are de-motivated to go up against the high power guys (who
wouldn't be) or they don't feel confident enough of their station and/or skills
to go unassisted.
2) I believe that the advantage of assisted vs. un-assisted is strongest when
the unassisted ops are having difficulty running and are forced to S & P
exclusively for a larger portion of the contest. At that point, the effeciency
of packet spots is an edge. As the sunspots get stronger in the coming years,
this advantage will be less noticable and only a very skilled assisted op who
recognizes that packet or not, they better be running on radio 1 over 50% of
the time will be competitive. While there is no requirement that an op who
claims assisted spend the majority of the time focusing on spots, most seem to,
and hence will never beat the running op (assisted or unassisted). Therefore,
it is no surprise that a great assisted op beat me at the bottom of the sunspot
cycle in CQ WW. To stay on top as the sunspots rise, the winning assisted op
will have to ignore the fact they are assisted for probably half the contest
and run, run, run. Doable? Absolutely, I welcome the c
hallenge.
3) I think the separate categories make sense to allow purists like me to enjoy
the game they love and to allow those ops that love assisted to hone their
different skills of balance between run, spots, and S & P among themselves.
People, doing what they love to do, competing on the same rules of the game.
Move whereever you want, build whatever antennas you want, get the best
receivers in the world, and become as skilled as you can. Just use the same
power level and don't get spotting help from anyone else if you are unassisted
or self-spot if you are assisted.
How much simpler can it be.
Ed N1UR
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|