[EIDXA] EIDXA-DXing and Contesting

[Jim Spencer]

I've really enjoyed the discussion Rick and Jeff have managed to start.
There are a lot of good ideas.  It seems that the bottom line is to
encourage contesting for club aggregate scoring, even on a casual basis.  It
is always difficult to devise a handicapping system that will really work
for all situations.  It probably is impossible.  Whatever we do should make
it fun and make it fairly easy to participate.

The idea of creating some incentives for DXing is great too.  That probably
also helps generate activity for the contests.

To the question, what is the Eastern Iowa DX Association? I can certainly
answer that our intent when we started the EIDXA was to be BOTH a DX club
and a Contest club.  They were both viewed as equals.  In the beginning
there was a requirement of a "serious" effort in two contests a year with
scores submitted for club competition.  Over the years that was watered down
as the interest seemed to decline.  My guess is that we will never
successfully "legislate" contest activity.   We can, though, talk up
contests and help everyone understand that they can be fun and for some one
of the greatest challenges one can imagine.

73,  Jim  W0SR