[WRTC2006] WRTC2010 TL Selection Critiera - Addl. Questions

[Robert Shohet]

Hi Dave,

> I've made top 10 in the CW Sprint a few times with a tribander @ 60ft,
> 2el 40, and 80m inverted vee.  Granted, from Florida, but still the East
> Coast and at a very modest station.

Yes, you have!  That was a great accomplishment, but you would not
be able to do that from Connecticut with a similar station.  That has
nothing to do with why I don't operate sprints.  As you know I operated with
modest wires and and one amp for years in the SOABHP category for years
before I built my station even though I had no chance to win.

> Before this degrades into a pissing match (as it already has), I'd like
> to use your comment to support a point I've been trying to make.
> Although scores are compared against others in your region, it's a tall
> order to expect a W6 to operate 48 hours in a DX contest at the bottom
> of the cycle just to make a few hundred QSO's to "win his region".
> Allow this W6 to compete in Sweepstakes or the Sprint, contests in which
> he can compete on a national level.  Lots of guys out west are more
> focused on domestic contests for this very reason.  Does this make them
> a poorer operator?  I present N6MJ as evidence if you believe that one.

I certainly have no objection to broadening out the contest results to
include Sprint, SS, NAQP and all other contests, for exactly the same reason
you present.  I am happy to see them included.  I just don't agree with the
relative weightings of the Sprint as compared to ARRLDX and WPX.   N6MJ is a
perfect example of the point I made in an earlier email "you can't separate
them out by contest because the best ops can and do excel in almost every
contest format!"

 > You argue that the ability to slog it out for 48 hours as being an
> important qualification.  Weren't you the one who was emailing people a
> couple years ago about the dangers of operating 48-hour contests from a
> health standpoint?

I strongly believe that consistently being able to compete in a 36 hour or
48 hour contest IS an important qualification, but, as you correctly pointed
out, I do NOT advocate operating all 48.  Nor do I believe that is necessary
to do so to have a chance to win, which is why I typically operated 46 or 47
(I had previously done all 48 twice in CQWWSSB - probably the toughest
contest to do all 48 in).

>  >Passing mults IS  a basic operating skill, and one that is ESSENTIAL in
>  >A DX contest or WRTC Event, which is EXACTLY why the 36 and 48 hour
>  >MULT-PASSING DX contest events should be much higher weighted!
>
> Since when do you pass mults in the WPX?

I don't,  but I do pass DX stations to another band.  I included the WPX
contest because not only is it both DX and stateside, the different levels
of points by  continent and by band require a level of strategy and decision
making that is absent in almost every other contest, not to mention the
complication of figuring out the "right" off-times to take.

Hey - lets include the NAQP if it's such an
important skill?

I agree!  Let's include it, but weight it appropriately.

>Most of the time in my 48 hour
> winning efforts were not spent moving mults, or thinking about strategy
> - they were about pushing the F1 key, shoveling Europeans (as a W2), and
> keeping my forehead from hitting the keyboard.

That's not how I operate, but again to each his own.

In many of my DX contest wins, I could probably have used this "style" (for
lack of a better word) of operating and still won.  However I spent most of
my operating time constantly thinking about what to do and when, how to get
the most points out of each and every minute of the contest (ok... it is
13:38:32, what can I do in the next 28 seconds to increase my score) and
sending almost every cq and contest exchange manually with my paddle.

In the past, some ops have claimed that all that was required to "win" was
to push F1 all weekend.  Of course the only ops I have ever heard say that
were those that operated from the BEST and LOUDEST stations in the
Northeast, where they could get away with that "easy" level of operating on
a weekend where NO ONE operated at another station EQUALLY LOUD!

The "Push F1" strategy has NEVER worked where they had competition from a
great op at a similar quality station.

For me it's a question of how hard do I want to work every minute of the
contest to maximize my score, and trying my best not taking the easy way out
even for one minute.  Which is probably why I need that 1 - 2 hours of rest.

What started the discussion was your statement that you felt that the Sprint
was (I am paraphrasing here) the BEST test of basic operating skills.  I
strongly disagree with that for the reasons already stated, and why I
believe that while it SHOULD be (and is) included in the contest
qualifications, it's weighting should be much lower than ARRL, WPX and IARU.

We can agree to disagree.  That's ok.

73
Bob KQ2M