The 24-Hour DX Contest Challenge
from
Pete Smith N4ZR, Sylvan Katz VE5ZX, and Mike Gilmer, N2MG
on
May 8, 2013
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The 24-Hour DX Contest Challenge
A proposal for a contest within a contest
By Pete Smith N4ZR, Sylvan Katz VE5ZX, and Mike Gilmer, N2MG
[Note: this article first ran on contesting.com in February 2003, and has been revised to fit our
plans for 2013. Time flies!]
Ten years ago, the three of us came up with the idea of a 24-hour class in one or more of the big
DX contests, using logs from the larger event as the basis for determining the winner. For some of
us, encroaching age or conflicts with family responsibilities make 48-hour contests less appealing.
Moreover, we were aware that in some parts of the world, operating the full time requires missing
work on the Friday before or the Monday after the contest. Our idea was (and is) to stimulate more
overall activity.
At the time, CQWW logs were not public, and the then-head of the CQWW Contest Committee was
strongly opposed, so nothing came of it. Ten years ago, some vocal opponents of the idea felt that
24-hour competition would tend to reduce activity rather than increase it, because some serious
ops who now participate for more than 24 hours would limit their operating time to compete for
the new prize, and they might outnumber those who would increase their hours of operating
because of the incentive of the 24-hour award.
But from time to time, the notion would come up again. The last time, early in 2013, response was
quite positive, and the new head of the CQWW Contest Committee gave his OK.
In 2003, by nearly 2:1, contesters responding to a survey said they would operate more if a 24-
hour challenge with off-times were to be instituted. We may redo that survey later this summer,
but in parallel with this article we are first offering a survey to explore which format would draw
the most support. We are offering three possibilities:
- any continuous 24 hours out of the 48
- 24 total hours (with off-times of a specified minimum duration) or
- either one (entrant's choice).
None of what follows is final, but we're thinking of offering a plaque for the best 24-hour score to
the top Single Ops (Assisted and Unassisted) on CW and SSB, as well as publishing the results on
the Internet. More plaques in more categories (for example, Low Power Single Ops) could be made
available if sponsors were to come forward. At a minimum, winners of any category will be
publicly and widely announced.
A CQWW contest entrant would enter the 24-Hour Challenge by sending his or her log to the 24-
hour DX Challenge organizers (us) at the same time it is submitted to CQWW. We would process
the log to make sure it met the time criteria, and publish a list of the entrants on the Internet.
To help us understand the impact of adding 24-hour categories, we would invite 24-Hour
Challenge entrants to tell us, in the soapbox section of the Cabrillo file, what category they
operated in last year, how many hours they put in, and whether the change was due to the
availability of a new category. When CQ publishes the scores, we would announce the winners of
the 24-Hour Challenge, based on CQ's log checking, post results on a web site. There would be no
administrative burden on the CQWW Contest Committee.
That's the idea in a nutshell -- a two-contest test (CQWW CW and SSB), and evaluation of the
outcome. Please complete the survey, so we can see if this is an idea whose time has come.
73, Syl VE5ZX, Pete,N4ZR and Mike N2MG
The 24-Hour DX Contest Challenge
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by kr2q on May 9, 2013
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Just a couple comments.
1. Why would you need the "blessings" of the CQWW contest director? What you are doing is totally apart.
2. That being said, I would suggest that you NOT open up your site to receive logs until AFTER the CQWW deadline has passed (expired). That aspect could, in theory, impact the log content of some logs submitted to CQWW.
Good luck!
de Doug KR2Q
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RE: The 24-Hour DX Contest Challenge
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by OH6LI on May 9, 2013
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Agreeing Dougzzz suggestion about collecting participant logs for this one.
CQ WW will accept logs for 5 days after the test.
This 24 hour activity could accept logs from start of day 6 until as long as seen feasible.
I support this initiative especially if there is some structure to accept also entrants who have operated more than 24.0 hours.
My suggestion is to let those entrants select the 24.0 hours they want to allocate for this 24 hour activity.
73,
Jukka OH6LI
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RE: The 24-Hour DX Contest Challenge
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by K9NW on May 9, 2013
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>My suggestion is to let those entrants select the 24.0 hours they want to allocate for this 24 hour activity.
Operating more than 24 hours and then cherry picking the best 24 kind of defeats the purpose of a 24 hour category - which has been billed as creating a competitive category for ops not able to devote an entire weekend to the event.
Pick your 24 hours (no preference on the 24 hour definition) and operate. If you miss an opening, or the flare hits during your operating period....well, that's the way it goes. Your time is up 24 operating hours after your first QSO.
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RE: The 24-Hour DX Contest Challenge
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by OH6LI on May 12, 2013
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This 24h challenge is a contest inside CQ WW.
Intent is to increase activity.
Or better put, to maximize the activity.
Why drive to limit the activity to 24 hours?
I choose to drive maximizing the activity.
That is the purpose of the original idea if I understand it correctly.
Worrying about giving a competitive edge to the people operating more than 24 hours:
More hours eats the score of the extra hours.
I doubt the score will increase after the first 24.0 hours.
If it does, the increase is very marginal.
To discourage people from making more contacts is not an idea I would support.
More is More. It is also More Fun.
73,
Jukka OH6LI
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