[Elecraft] Contesting; history?

[Rick Tavan]

Contests are competitions. They evolved into the format that they have 
because their parameters provide good measures of operating skill, 
knowledge of propagation, station and antenna design and quality of 
location. The latter is more of a bug than a feature, as geographic 
differences in propagation frustrate the intentions of contest designers 
who prefer to measure performance rather than circumstance.

/Rick N6XI

ray satel wrote:

>
> Hi all
>
> Talking of contest stations...  Am I right in assuming that most / all 
> "contests" are concerned with the maximum number of contacts and then 
> some kind of modifiers based on the location of those contacts? Either 
> inclusive or exclusive.
>
> Can anyone offer an explanation as how (or why) contests evolved into 
> the format that they have, rather than perhaps "The longest QSO scores 
> the most points, chronologically or geographically.. " or indeed any 
> other format?