[Elecraft] EQ Party or Contest?

[Max Moon]

Rod asks a very good question: is the EQP a Party or a Contest? The EQP
itself has an identity problem. Rule #1 is, "Object: To work as many other
Elecraft owners [contest!] and to have fun doing it [party!]."

To make it more mixed up, Rule #8A (there are only 8 rules) says, "QSOs are
encouraged." But they aren't. It is obvious from the scoring system that
maximum number of contacts is encouraged, not QSOs (I take QSO to mean
chatting with somebody, not completing a contest exchange in 40 or 45
seconds & calling QRZ?)

What about changing the rules next year so EQP can be either a contest or a
party, or both? One way to accomplish that would be to allow points per QSO
to keep growing the longer the QSO continues. For example, I have the choice
of taking my 5 watts and working, in an hour, let's say, 40 EQPers (that may
be an infelicitous acronym...;-) to get 120 points. And the next hour I
could have 5 QSOs averaging 8 minutes each and earn the same 3 points per
QSO plus maybe 3 points per minute of continuing QSO after the first minute.
Thus, the true "QSOs are encouraged" party operator would receive (3 x 5) +
3(7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7) = 15 + 105 = 120 points (instead of 15 with the current
system).

It would be like valuing quality as much as, if not more than, quantity.
Like doing more with less... Why does that sound familiar??

72s,
Max, k0max