[WRTC2006] WRTC2010- Even more questions

[Alexander Avramov]

Dear Roman and Harry,

during the last couple of days I was following the discussion with a 
great interest. Some of Harry's responses already answered the questions 
I was about to ask. Some others, however, made me wonder if I really do 
understand the rules. So, here they are:

I.
First, are these rules final ? Meaning, are they already "set in stone" 
and they can not be subjected to discussion at all ? If they are not, 
then could you announce a deadline after which the rules can not be 
changed anymore and we can start preparing our strategies for the 
remaining contests ?

II.
I would like just to add a small comment on "Category factor": don't you 
think it is too big for M/S ? In terms of personal contribution to the 
team's score there is no big difference between a 10 people team in M/S 
and the same team in M/2. And at the same time SOA are practically 
beheaded with 0.7. At least they have the guts to declare they are using 
the cluster.

III. The calculation formula: I really like it ! It does take into 
account if you were really close to the winner or you got smashed but 
you still get a lot of points just because you were #2. However, this 
formula has an obvious flaw ! It always requires at least one decent 
score. Since an example is worth a thousand words, let me show you just 
one and you make your own conclusions out of it.
In RDXC 2006 the winner in M2 category in NA is K3DI. The guys there had 
fun and finished with 147 719 points.
If RDXC 2006 would count for the WRTC selection procedure, they would 
get 910x0.7 = 637 qualification points.
NO2R won the M/S in NA with 920 465 points, 6-7 times bigger score. 
AA3B, who finished second in SOABCW with 1 119 150 points, 8 times 
bigger score than K3DI, would get 910 x 0.8 x (1 119 150/1 261 260) = 
646 points. In other words, AA3B would get almost the same number as a 
station over which he won with 8 times larger score ! This obviously is 
not right.
Some people would say that cases like this are so rare, so it is not 
worth looking into it. Well, that's not true. There are a lot of hidden 
categories in all of the areas defined in the Rules and this is not an 
isolated case and RDXC 2006 was just the first one I looked into.  If 
you decide to keep it the way it is, the number of people changing their 
categories depending on what they saw at 3830, would go up exponentially.

Now, I know that we all strive for purely objective criteria. 
Unfortunately, in most of the cases this can not be fully achieved. In 
my opinion, it would be much better if you, as organizers, retain the 
right to change the denominator in the above formula in OBVIOUS cases to 
"the best score in all categories from that area" or "the best score in 
first lower category from that area" or whatever it may be appropriate.

Speaking of the formula, I find its wording quite misleading. Initially 
I thought that my score (when I operate K3CR) will be normalized to the 
best score in NA area #1 and NOT to the best score in the area I will be 
applying from - EU #4, i.e. in the same way it was for WRTC-2006. After 
reading one of Harry's responses though, I honestly don't know what to 
think. The formula says "nominee area". Which is my "nominee area" ? The 
area I operated from, right ?
Harry, you mentioned something about your countrymen getting upset with 
the big scores you achieve from 5B4. Why they would get upset if they 
get the same qualification points as you get ? If you win Asia, you 
would get exactly the same number of points as your neighbor in Moscow 
who wins EU #5 and if you don't win Asia you would get  even less 
qualification points than him, right ? Why he would get upset about that 
? Is there something that I have misunderstood ?

IV. The most controversial topic - rule 5.5
I must admit, I agree with most of the negative comments regarding this 
rule. And not only because it directly impacts me. I will not repeat all 
of the arguments mentioned before by well known contesters. I will just 
say that I have utmost respect for those people who have built and 
maintain stations at remote DX locations. Yes, it is easier to win the 
world from there than from your comfortable home but their scores are 
compared to the scores of others like them, at not to yours directly. 
And I personally have no problem with YT1AD going to 3V8BB 8 times and 
then comparing his points with mine.
W2SC proposed a "roaming" category and I would go even further. Retain 
the areas for comparing scores but don't limit the number of spots per 
each area. Europe will still get 21 teams but all of them might come 
from one or two areas.  The same in US, don't limit West coast to just 2 
- make all of the spots available to any area in US. This would create a 
fierce competition but this is exactly what we need to select the best 
of the best, right ?

Anyway, until now no one mentioned anything about the other DX category 
- people living permanently in other countries. Since 2001, a little bit 
more than 6 years, I live permanently in US. According to rule 5.5, W3 
is my DX QTH. Not a very clever choice on my side, I must admit. Going 
back to LZ 4 times in the next 15 months definitely represents a problem 
but with the right planning it could be done. In less than a year, 
however, I will finish my doctorate and I will have to choose where to 
go next. The list of my choices includes ZL and KL7. Traveling half of 
the world to get to LZ doesn't sound too logical though. I really don't 
see the reason why someone who has established his life and career in 
another country but still retains and respects his original citizenship 
has to travel half of the world 4 times in one year. In today's global 
world the number of people living permanently abroad is astonishing. 
Europe practically has no borders anymore and it completely doesn't 
matter where you live. Anyway, enough about that.

V.
Rules 5.1 and 6 use "permanent residence" term. It useful to know that 
not all of the countries have the statute of "permanent residence". In 
fact, after talking to our Foreign Affairs office, it turned out that 
MOST of the countries in the world don't have such a statute. In LZ it 
is enough to live there for 181 days in a calendar year and pay your 
taxes there and you are considered to be a "permanent resident". Note, 
only considered. You are not given any document as such a statute simply 
doesn't exist. In European Union, the treaties between member countries 
guarantee privileges equal to these of  "permanent resident" to all of 
member countries citizens. So, would you please consider some re-wording 
of these rules, so that their meaning AND intent becomes more clear and 
not allowing different interpretations ?

VI. CHEATING
Roman and Harry, as I will be applying from an area, famous with its 
shameless cheating, I would like to ask you to elaborate a little bit on 
your cheaters policy. As far as the rumours go, in WRTC-2006 selection 
process, people who were caught cheating, were asked not to submit their 
applications. I don't know if that's true but it sounded logical to me. 
Do you intend to implement such a policy too ? If so, when the "clean" 
period starts - 2006, 2007 ?
Also, are you going to rely completely on contests organizers for 
cheating checking or you will have your own checking too ?
What are you going to do with contests that do not implement such a 
check ? RDXC and IARU are the first two that come to my mind. Don't know 
about CQ WPX but judging from 3830 some people really believe that it 
doesn't have any either. For IARU there was a long going thread on 
CQ-Contest only a month ago.
As you already have included IARU-2006, how do you intend to handle the 
"HA phenomenon" in IARU-2006 ?

Roman and Harry, I know I asked too many questions but I trully believe 
that it is of everyone's interest to make the things absolutely clear. I 
realize that answering all sorts of questions people were asking and 
will keep asking is an extremely difficult and exhausting task . I can 
only commend you on the great job you've done so far and offer my help 
if it's needed.

73, Alex LZ4AX