[PaQSO] Bonus Station Concerns

[Jim]

I have a few comments about the bonus station.  Please
give a look to all of them.  Thanks.

1.Just because people question an idea, it doesn’t
mean you should take anything as a personal insult. 
Doing so causes many problems.

2.I think that W3UU should ALWAYS sign as W3UU/R.  By
signing as a rover, this makes the software work
properly.  You can’t simply add /COUNTY, because that
is an invalid callsign.  I like the KA3JWE software,
because it works very well.  Many others use it too. 
This will work.  In essence, the bonus stations will
be rovers, since no one will use the W3UU call from
their home for normal purposes.  AD3E signs as a rover
each year, but is fixed.

3.The mobile station should then sign as W3UU/R also. 
This would add uniformity to the logging software.  If
he decides to sign as a mobile, this would seem to
possibly jazz up the logger and be very confusing.  

A mobile which gives out QSO’s in Dauphin would be a
DUPE, regardless of how he decides to identify /M or
/R, or whatever, if the normal W3UU station was worked
in Dauphin.  There is no other way to view this, it
has to be a dupe.  

4.The mobile station should avoid counties with fixed
W3UU stations for the entire contest.  This is also to
be easier for logging.  Why go to a county with a W3UU
already on for the event anyway?  You want to go to
rare ones like Armstrong.

5.This may not be a big deal to single ops, but when
you run a multi, it is.  No matter how many times you
explain logging, someone always jazzes it up.  There
should be no rigging of the software for this.  

Remember last year, we had a station driving around
which was going to make mobile contacts while driving,
then stop and make rover contacts.  To make matters
worse, the phonetics given were “mobile rover.” 
Arghh!

6.I see no reason why the bonus can’t be at one
location.  This is how it has always been.  Many
people from the bonus club could be on with their own
calls to add to the aggregate score.  I do not believe
a 200 point bonus really means too much, anyway.  If I
work the bonus 5 times, I still only get 1000 points. 
It will not quadruple the score.  Not worth going out
of your way to work the bonus station.

7.Under NO circumstances should this bonus score count
towards being listed as a genuine multi-op station. 
First off, it has the advantage of being the bonus,
which makes people stick around to work it.  More
importantly, each station can duplicate contacts.  Let
me explain that.  If there is a W3UU in CUM on 80m SSB
it can work K3AAA.  Now the other W3UU in DAU can also
be on 80m SSB and work K3AAA.  If I have a REAL multi,
which is fixed, I can only work K3AAA one time on 80m
SSB.  

If this is allowed for scoring, all records will
become meaningless.  

If the bonus is given legit status in the scoring,
which county is listed for the county of operation,
see what I mean?

This should be EXPERIMENTAL only.  

8.I do not know if the bonus score counts towards the
aggregate of a club, we always seem to fight about
this each year.  If each W3UU location got on with
it’s own separate call, the aggregate for that club
would be lower, since more people tend to stick around
to work the bonus.  This would also be an advantage
others would not have.  

9.Perhaps next year we can get one club to operate the
bonus station in three separate counties, with EACH
being a multi.  Then it’s like having three bonus
stations.  Is that fair to anyone?  Where will this
end?  Rule clarification?  

10.We need a clear set of rules, explaining what is
permitted in excruciating detail.  This will alleviate
all concerns, since the rules would then be spelled
out.  I have heard many stories over the years of
people doing bizarre things to bend the rules.  This
type of play is similar to what happens in VHF
contests where you have captive rovers.  All these
guys do is go out and work one station, if anyone else
calls them, they are ignored.  These are not valid
qso’s to me.

I participated in the Mid Atlantic QSO Party in May. 
This was the first running.  There was a specific set
of rules.  Before the event, interested people voted
and spoke their minds, so the rules were quite fair. 
A few things were tweaked for the upcoming event, but
it was quite successful.

11.Any out of the ordinary items need to be discussed
well in advance.  I read about the W3UU operation, but
didn’t really consider the logging, until JWE made his
posting.  Now I feel better.  Software authors must
know in advance to see how their programs handle
anything different.

In conclusion, these items are meant to point out a
few things and make the contest flow more smoothly
this year and in subsequent years.  None of this is
meant to be offensive.  We all get an opinion.  Thanks
for taking the time to read.

Jim
N3PBH





		
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