[PaQSO] CQ vrs S&P

Wed Oct 14 12:46:49 EDT 2015

I feel compelled to throw in my 2 cents worth from a Portable perspective.

I don't believe that any changes in the scoring will have a large impact 
on mobile participation.

As far as the duration of the contest, 2 days is what makes it 
worthwhile to mount a serious portable operation.  If the contest were 
one day, I would not consider traveling to a destination, setting up 
multiple antennas, and then spend all the hours operating.  As it is, 
it's a 4-day operation for what I like to do. If it were shortened to 
one day of contesting, I wouldn't bother doing all the prep work, 
loading the camper, finding the "rare" county and then going out and 
doing it.  The overnight break makes it possible to have one operator be 
effective for the entire contest duration.  I understand that mobiles 
and rovers have a bit more work involved during the contest, but 
portable operation of any magnitude really isn't worthwhile without the 
2 day span.

I think the distinction between Rover and Mobile is necessary and is 
fine the way it is.  The solution to the Phone vs. CW balance is to have 
some more CW operators roving.  That is not something that's going to 
change unless someone wants to actually do it.

Portable operation is not usually a free endeavor either.  But, it is 
factored into my decision of whether to do it or not.  And towing a 32 
foot trailer can eat up some gas, especially to a distant locale.

As far as rates on one day vs. another, I find them to be fairly 
consistent, but in a "rare" county you find more people actively 
searching you out on the second day.  Plus, there's a lot of new calls 
on Sunday (worked many low serial numbers Sunday afternoon). We sat at 
the radios for essentially the entire contesting period (nature breaks 
are much easier in a camper than in a mobile).

I am not denigrating Mobile/Rover operation by any means nor am I 
suggesting that Portable is any better or more difficult.  I think one 
of the things that makes the PA QSO Party a fun operating event is 
choosing what category to operate and where to operate.  There can be a 
lot of strategy involved in the contest planning or it can be just 
getting on the air for a few hours.  There's something for everybody.  
And really is a friendly, fun contest to participate in.

Thanks to everyone who make it a success every year, both participants 
and organizers.

73,

Chip N3IW

On 10/14/2015 11:39, jimk8mr--- via PaQSO wrote:
> Some observations from a long time mobile participant in PA and several other states. And I think I speak for a number of mobile contesting friends:
>
>
> 1. Scoring systems have very little to do with the decision to head out. If we are competing, we are competing against other mobiles who will be under the same scoring system.
>
>
> 2. One minor exception to the above: One of the thrills of mobile contesting is knowing that a lot of the time we'll be a much appreciated new multiplier for somebody. PAQP has, to its credit, a huge bunch of dedicated ops who do a good job of activating nearly all the counties. But many of these guys are phone ops only. If multipliers were given for each mode, there would be a lot of places that I'd be a new multiplier on CW, even though there had been phone activity from that county. However, even this change would be a minor factor.
>
>
> 3. Two days is unappealing. The two days of operating is not bad, but finding a motel in the far reaches (especially if Penn State is playing a home football game), getting there close to 1 AM, and then being up and on the road by 9 am sucks. Plus, I (and I suspect many others) prefer not blowing off an entire weekend to radio.
>
>
> 4. As I have previously written, the Rover category is great for phone operation. The couple extra S-units with a real antenna on 40 and 80 makes a huge difference on SSB. But one still wants to also be able to operate while between stops. I strongly recommend allowing rovers to operate while moving. If that were the case, I'd spend most of the time parked doing SSB, and most of the time while moving operating CW.
>
>
> 5. Mobile contesting does cost money. For me two full days in PA involves pushing a thousand miles, including my travel on the Ohio side of the state line. That's 40 or so gallons of gas, plus a motel.  (And maybe the Turnpike tolls!). That doesn't force me to eat cat food to make up for a weekend, but it is enough to notice.
>
>
> 6. To get back to the question of two days vs. one, it would be interesting to see the logs of various levels of competitors. How are their rates on the second day? Are they taking lots of time off? Do people quit while the Steelers or Eagles are on TV? Is Sunday really fun, or just a cost of being a serious competitor?
>
>
>
>
> 73  -  Jim  K8MR
>
>
> Hickory HS (Sharon, PA) '67
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: n3bud <n3bud at pa.metrocast.net>
> To: Evan Duffey <wxduff at gmail.com>; n3xls <n3xls at juno.com>
> Cc: paqso <paqso at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wed, Oct 14, 2015 10:35 am
> Subject: Re: [PaQSO] CQ vrs S&P
>
>
> How about lowering the price of gas and maintenance.  Most likely this and less
> than perfect band conditions account for the decline.  Since mobiles are already
> in their own category I question any changes to the scoring system making a
> difference.
> Mike, N3BUD
>
>
> A simple adjustment to
> the rules to encourage rare county activation:
>
> Current Rules:
> 12. PA Mobile
> operation Bonus points
> 12.a. Add 500 Points to final score for each county you
> operated from where
> you made at least 10 QSOs.
> 13. PA Rover operation Bonus
> points
> 13.a. Add 500 Points to final score for each location you operated
> from
> where you made at least 10 QSOs.
>
> New Rules:
> 12. PA Mobile Bonus
> Points
> 12a. Rare Counties: The following ten counties have been determined rare
> by
> the PAQSO party staff (insert 10 rarest counties over the last 5 years).
> Add
> 1000 points to your final score for each rare county where you made at
> least 10
> QSOs. Add 500 points to your final score for each non-rare county
> where you made
> at least 10 QSOs.
> 12b. Add 250 points to your final score for each location you
> operated from
> where you made at least 10 QSOs.
>
> Just a
> suggestion
>
> Evan
> N3TWM
>
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 9:01 AM, n3xls at juno.com
> <n3xls at juno.com> wrote:
>
>> Shortening the contest to one day will not ensure
> more mobile activity.  I
>> think relaxing the rules on mobile's and making more
> incentives to go
>> mobile would help.  Rover category took off in recent years
> and I think
>> that took a hit on the  amount of mobiles.
>>
>> Maybe mobiles need
> a score formula where the rare counties and number of
>> stations worked and
> number of counties activated all play a part in the
>> score.
>>
>> I am not a
> mobile op so this is just my 1/2 cents.  I am just following
>> the old advice of
> whats in it for me if I go to the trouble of activating a
>> rare county or have
> a game plan of lighting up several counties.  I know
>> for the past 15 year no
> one would have a sweep with out at least one mobile.
>> ----- Reply message
> -----
>> From: "John Getz" <johngetz24 at gmail.com>
>> To: <paqso at mailman.qth.net>
>>
> Subject: [PaQSO] CQ vrs S&P
>> Date: Tue, Oct 13, 2015 8:08 PM
>>
>>
>> I concur
> with Dave, WN4AFP, that there were a lot of out of state stations
>> calling CQ
> for PA contacts.  I was one of the callers.  With this being a
>> two day
> contest, you just run out of PA stations to work and need to
>> attract the
> casual PA ops that only do S&P.  There was also a shortage of
>> PA mobiles to
> work.  I think PA should be a one day contest.  It would be
>> easier for the
> mobile stations so more mobile stations would come out.
>> More mobiles to chase
> means out of station stations don't have to call CQ
>> as much as new counties
> and contacts are always becoming available.  I'd be
>> interested in hearing what
> others think about making PA a one day contest.
>>
>> John Getz
>> , AD8J (Long
> time PA resident now retired in NC)
>
>   
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