I have been stewing on this idea since Dayton. and I wanted to toss it out
there, cause some trouble, etc.
What if.
The organizers of WRTC2026 chose their twelve qualifying contests. but then
allowed each WRTC region to substitute six contests of their choosing for
six of the less worldwide contests. so, for example. the WRTC committee
might choose their 12, and require that all regions used CQWW phone and CW,
WPX Phone and CW, IARU and Russian DX. and six others. but, a region could
select its own contests that would be more representative of the local
conditions. For example, the east coast might like WAE, but NA8 might prefer
CQP.
Given that we're only competing for a chair within our own regions, as long
as within a region we're all using the same contests, it doesn't matter that
other regions are using different ones. we're not comparing the qualifying
scores of EU1 to NA8.
Part of the reason I am suggesting this now is that it is ARRL DX weekend.
and this contest is scored differently everywhere else in NA8 than it is in
Alaska. so Alaska has no way to get Single Op WRTC points in this contest
because Canada is scored differently, and their scores are higher, because
there are more mults. With that in mind, a condition for a region to select
a contest would be that all stations in that region are scored the same. so
for NA8, ARRL DX could not be a contest for WRTC consideration, unless the
WRTC organizers made some accommodation.
A region could even choose something like NAQP or even the sprints, if that
is what they wanted to do. Whatever a region wanted to do to make a
competitive result representative of contesting skill for that area.
To make it happen, each region would suggest contests to the organizers that
they would like considered. so there might be twenty or thirty on the list.
then each ham would vote on up to six for inclusion in their region. the
votes would be tallied by region, and the six contests that the region chose
would be used for that region, instead of the generic six that the WRTC
organizers proposed. and you could build in a safety valve to that, so that
for a contest to be included for a region, it would need to get at least X
votes, otherwise the contest suggested by the WRTC organizers would be used.
Let me use NA8 as an example. easy for me because that is where I am, and it
is a good example of a problem in need of correction. In WRTC 2022, these
are the qualifying contests. Let's assume for the sake of argument, those
are the same for WRTC 2026:
CQ WW DX CW
CQ WW DX SSB
CQ WW WPX CW
CQ WW WPX SSB
IARU HF Championship
Russian DX Contest
ARRL Int. DX CW
ARRL Int. DX SSB
WAE DX CW
WAE DX SSB
All Asian DX CW
All Asian DX SSB
In my proposal, the first six would be mandatory for all regions. The next
six are the defaults, but a region could substitute any other contest for
any one of those six. In the case of NA8, we couldn't use ARRL DX because
not all stations are scored the same. So we would propose substitutes. So a
list of substitutes for NA8 might be:
SS Phone
SS CW
NAQP winter Phone
NAQP winter CW
CQP
7QP
Phone Sprint
CW Sprint
Florida QSO Party (just cause someone might suggest it)
. and all of the suggested contests by WRTC, so there would be 13 possible
Everyone in NA8 votes, and the top 6 are chosen as our WRTC contests. By my
one rule, that all stations are scored the same, ARRL DX would probably be
disqualified unless WRTC made an accommodation to score the contest the same
for all stations (for example, raw Qs - just a suggestion, don't @me).
Everywhere else would choose differently. but that is OK. As far as how to
weight the scores of those six for qualification, that would be up to WRTC
to determine. Maybe the top two vote-getters are 900 point contests, the
next two are 800, and the last two are 700. Just an idea.
The nuances and possibilities are endless. which makes this topic perfect
fodder for this reflector.
73,
Wigi, KL0R
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