[PaQSO] Progress !!!

[Mike Coslo]

Ron Notarius W3WN wrote:
> Well gentlemen, I'm sorry, but I strongly disagree with your position.
>
> One of the hallmarks of the Pa QSO Party is that it's fun.  And I find
> chasing the bonus station(s) part of that fun.
>
> A bonus station activating multiple counties is more challenging, but again,
> not only is that part of the contest, but it's enjoyable to see how many
> times and modes you can catch them on.
>
> I would further strongly disagree with the notion that "last year's bonus
> station let the cat out of the bag."  No -- N3SH did not.  The W3UU Bonus
> Station out of Harrisburg a few years back gets full credit for the
> multi-county bonus station idea, we just picked up the ball and ran with it.
>
> Remember that since they're not supposed to be eligible for the awards
> (although I know of one former Bonus Station that proudly displays their
> winning county certificate in their shack), they're allowed to bend some of
> the rules.  So I don't see the point of the "ruling" that Herb asks for.
>
> And since he mentions Field Day:  In contrast, I would point you to the IARU
> Championship, where some of the "bonus" stations -- the IARU Headquarters
> Stations -- routinely operate from multiple locations on different bands
> and/or modes.  So there is ample precedent.
>
> Not all clubs are as fortunate as K3YTL, W3KWH, W3PIE, K3MJW, K3HKK, and
> many others to have a permanent shack and/or location.  And many of us in
> the urban and suburban areas don't have access to the real estate to erect,
> even for a weekend, the multitude of antennas for a true multi-multi
> operation.  Of those who do, well, some aren't exactly enthusiastic about
> this contest; I know of one big gun mult-multi contest station that backed
> out of being the bonus station a few years back, almost at the last minute.
> I don't recall what the "official" reason was, although I've heard that
> station owner put down Pa QSO as pretty much beneath him in the past... (one
> of the reasons I now avoid him as much as possible at Dayton).  So if you
> manage to persuade the Nittany ARC Board to restrict the manner in which the
> bonus station can operate, don't be at all surprised if you see much less
> activity from, and interest in activating, the bonus station -- almost to
> the point where you're back to the one year where the bonus station was
> virtually unheard by most throughout the contest.
>
> Remember:  Part of the agreement that a club now makes with the Nittany ARC
> to host the Bonus Station is that they are to do their best to put forth a
> big effort and maximize the number or opportunities that the participants in
> the contest can contact the BS for additional points.  Now what's a better
> way to accomplish that, try and put one station on from one location with
> all bands and modes (and at this point in the sunspot cycle, limited
> effectiveness above 20 meters), or put multiple stations on the air from
> multiple counties to take full advantage of whatever the propagation gurus
> give us?
>
> Restricting the bonus station severely will destroy the effectiveness of
> having one, which might eliminate it all together.  Or is that the idea
> here?
>   
    Certainly not on my part Ron. The whole point of  the bonus station 
has always been to add a little spice. Kind of like that feeling when 
you get that section that you needed, or that last county. Of course the 
last county is a heaping spoonful of spice, but you get the point.

    What we want from the Bonus Station (I'll refrain from the acronym) 
is a station that is going to be accessible to most of the partyers. We 
don't want everyone to be a bonus station because that would obviously 
dilute any specialness of it. On the other hand, we also don't want the 
station to be an FT-817 running 5 watts into a 6 foot wire in a state 
park somewhere.

    As a guideline, we try to alternate between Western and Eastern PA 
for the Bonus station. This doesn't always happen, but we try. The 
choice of stations depends on a couple factors. The ability to put a 
good station together, and sometimes historic factors come into account. 
two years ago, I chose the Murgas club K3YTL because it was the 100th 
anniversary of Father Murgas' station. That was a truly historic 
anniversary.

    That being said, there is no rational reason to have a Bonus 
station. Any station that awards extra "special" points just for a QSO 
is counterproductive from a purely competitive standpoint.

    So why do we have them?

    They are fun.

    The same reason that some people play the lottery. Only we don't 
have to pay for this gamble.

    There is an amount of prestige for the club running the Bonus station.

    I really respect the W3UU effort in the first multi station bonus 
station. There were a lot of predictions of disaster, mass confusion, 
and collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet. ;^) But it all worked well, and 
in the post party activity, the response was overwhelmingly positive.
> This reminds me all to well of a mobile operation in the Breezeshooter's
> Groundwave contest several years back.  This station was DQ'd immediately
> after the contest -- because the two operators operated mobile and activated
> multiple multipliers (the geographic squares centered on the Point).  Why?
> Because of the way the rules were written, because it never occurred over
> the years to update the rules for the possibility of true mobile operation,
> it was actually pointless for a "mobile" to operate mobile!  Is THAT what we
> want to do to the bonus station?
>   
    Yoiks! I hope they changed the rules for the next contest!!

> Sorry.  I have respect for many of the people who are griping about the
> bonus station (like you Grump), as I have respect for many who were upset
> about the addition of the digital modes last year (like W3HDH).  But IMHO
> you're mistaken.
>   
    I became a student of the history of the party 2 years ago. When the 
PAQSO party was successful was when we stirred the pot a little. We 
almost went SK back in the 70's. We resurrected ourselves by making changes.

    Oddly, the present bone of contention isn't about a change, even if 
some Ops think it is. You can't change something into what it already is.

    But back to the point is that I don't make changes willy nilly. Any 
change I make has a lot of thought behind it. Records are taken into 
account. Effects on other partyers are taken into account.

    I do look at the "If it isn't broke don't fix it" business. How does 
this happen? I would postulate that what we see as "the party" are the 
conditions or rules at the time we first take part. Then as time goes 
on, changes are a little disturbing - kind of like going back to your 
home town and finding the Dairy Queen where you met your future wife was 
torn down. So should I keep the party as it was when I first took part, 
or keep it the same as it was for someone who first took part 15 years ago?

    The original PAQSO party wasn't anything like it is today. Was it 
broke? Yes - it did eventually break. Time wounds all heels. But at what 
point so we fix it? When it nearly went SK, it had been broken for some 
time. Fixing it then was almost too late. But I'll bet there were some 
howls of indignation when the changes that allowed it to survive were 
put in place.

    Much better to update and tweak every so often. Keep things 
interesting. But I can assure all of us that if no changes are made the 
party will go away eventually.

    But still, that Multiple station Bonus station is an established 
part of the party at this time. It has been proved to work, and we can 
switch back and forth between single station and multiple stations 
without fear of great malfunction.

    - 73 de Mike KB3EIA -