[SOC] Fw: [CQ-Contest] You can win a contest!

[Art - W6KY]

Not how WRTC works. All the stations are as identical 'as possible'. Co-located
as close as possible. Not Michigan and Maryland. Most judges from CQ Contesting 
Hall of Fame. Great sponsors. Logs must be turned in immediately. 
As an example of operators over equipment. Two WRTC's ago the winning team
was using an IC-765. A radio from 1989.

WRTC is the pinnacle of contesting. Those who are into contesting love it (or
hate it for not being invited to a team).. Those not into contesting probably 
can't
see the point. That's the same with all aspects of amateur radio. I don't do
SSB on 40 meters in the daytime, talk thru a repeater, send pictures on 14230
or bounce RF off the moon, but there are those who to them is, amateur radio. 
Good for them!

Long live WRTC. Started by Danny,K7SS, who should be our SOC President
except he won't join a club that will have him as a member.....  :)

73, Art  W6KY
www.w6ky.com

................................................................

----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Coslo <mjc5 at psu.edu>
To: Second Class Operators' Club <soc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Fri, May 13, 2011 10:11:28 AM
Subject: Re: [SOC] Fw: [CQ-Contest] You can win a contest!

On May 13, 2011, at 12:52 PM, Tom Osborne wrote:

> Hi Mike
> 
> 'Leveling the playng field' is something contesters have talked and 
> complained about for years.  But, the WRTC is about the closest thing you 
> can get to that.
> 
> Last year in Russia, all of the stations were set up FD style in the same 
> field with the same height towers and the same antennas, exactly.  Only 
> variables were the radios the participants used.  They even had a device to 
> monitor output power that will give them away if they go to too much power. 
> It is as close to being 'level' as you will ever get.  Operator skill is 
> what it takes to win that one, not location.  73

Sure - sorta. I trust that emissions were measured and that the towers were 
placed over the exact same type of terrain? Having identical equipment is a 
start, but location is a surprisingly big factor.

Just for the sake of illustration, let's have a 20 meter contest. A shootout 
between two operators who are consensus "best American operators". The goal is 
to contact as many EU operators as possible. We'll use a 756 pro III and 100 
foot towers with a tribander on top of each. One will be installed in the Upper 
peninsula of Michigan, and the other in say Maryland. If the stations were set 
up identically and the RF emissions were set up exactly the same, is the station 
in Michigan going to be equal to the one in Maryland? The only difference the 
operator skill and the score differential proving who is the better operator? 
>From Michigan, working worldwide is probably still a tough proposition, contest 
wise.

I don't want to belabor the list with semi-serious stuff, but the level playing 
field is tilting at windmills.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

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