I generally oppose contests within contests as it likely will adversely
affect operating on the part of the contest which does not overlap with the
main portion of the contest. Late nights on the low bands will get tougher
if there are significant off times.
If you're going to do off times, or truncated contesting, have it be a
straight 24 hour test (within the 48 hour contest), and have it be on day 2
which tends to suffer from reduced QSO rates.
73 Rich NN3W
----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Thompson K5ZD" <k5zd@charter.net>
To: "'Stan Stockton'" <k5go@cox.net>; <CQ-Contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 8:58 PM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Categories, Participation and Competition
> Operating time is definitely a factor in achieving a score!
>
> For the WPX Contest, the online results list the hours of operation for
> every entrant as well as their band breakdowns. This provides a way for
> people to compare their efforts with others.
>
> There are other properties that may be interesting for comparing scores.
> All we need is more meta data provided with the logs and we can include
> that
> in the online score database. Then participants could run queries to
> compare their score against various properties. The technology to do this
> is easy. The hard part is getting agreement on the property names and
> definitions!
>
> Creating new (overlay) categories based on operating time is an
> interesting
> concept. My concern is that it may actually motivate people to be less
> active. For example, I have about 15 hours to operate during a weekend.
> Do
> I spend my time to maximize a score for the 12 hour category, or just play
> around and work my 15 hours available? The contest sponsors want to
> motivate people to get on as much as they can. I think that is one reason
> contesting has always been kind of open ended when it comes to operating
> time. You want a bigger score -- you spend more time in the chair.
>
> Perhaps a limited time category would end up with a net gain by converting
> ops who normally do 4-6 hour efforts into 12 hours. That is the great
> unknown.
>
> Once you start making limited time categories, you also have to define
> them.
> Is it 12 hours consecutive? Any 12 hours? If so, then what is an off
> time?
> It is not as simple as it may first seem.
>
> But, time-based catergories are an idea worthy or more discussion.
>
> Randy, K5ZD
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: Stan Stockton [mailto:k5go@cox.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:17 PM
> To: CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> Cc: Randy Thompson
> Subject: Categories, Participation and Competition
>
>
> Attempts have been made in some contests to create new categories where
> ones
> with wires or tribanders can compete on a more level basis. Most contests
> have categories for different power levels.
>
> The one item that I think is most important and currently ignored is the
> time of operation. In a world of children, grandchildren, other family
> obligations, honey do's to keep the YF happy, and an aging group of
> contesters, many cannot compete because they cannot work the contest the
> entire period, which in many cases is 48 hours.
>
> I would only have categories that encourage enhancement of station
> performance and instead include categories in a 48 hour contest for
> perhaps
> 12 hour, 24 hour and 48 hour operating time - 24 and 48 hour for sure.
> There are a lot of people out there who would do really well if they could
> stay up for 48 hours but cannot ever win anything with a 24 hour effort.
> Off times should be longer than what most are used to having in
> Sweepstakes
> and other contests with time limits Perhaps a maximum of four off-times
> with a minimum of 6 hours for each would be appropriate for a 24 hour
> entry.
>
> I can see a lot of people getting excited about competing in a contest if
> they had a way of doing it without having to commit to the entire 48 hour
> period.
>
> Stan, K5GO
>
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