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Contesting Online Survey

Survey Question Current Survey Question

Do you plan to enter the CQ WW DX Contest?

Recent Surveys

Recently the RDXC committee reclassified P3F to high power from low power without publicly providing strong evidence that any infraction had occurred. They concluded was that the contestant was running HP on 80/40m but not full-time, just 10 minutes here and there without any convincing evidence. It appears they used the RBN as their source of information. Should the RXDC contest have to publicly provide convincing evidence before reclassifying a station from LP to HP?
2021-10-27


Randy, K5ZD, wrote a sidebar titled " Convergence and Change" in the 2015 CQWW CW printed results in CQ magazine. He wrote that the "convergence of personal computers, Internet access, DX clusters, and CW Skimmer have changed the nature of CW contesting". He goes to say that it is "more difficult to police the line between the single operator working alone and those who are using the assistance of DX spotting." In light of this convergence and change is it time to recombine SO and SOA into a single category?
2016-05-28


What's your primary Software for HF Contests ? ( no VHF/UHF ! )
2015-07-17


Are you ready the this year's winter contest season
2015-07-05


What ways have you found to be effective to attract newcomers to our hobby?
2015-04-28


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Thanks for voting! Your vote has been included in the results below.

How would you react to an ARRL Sweepstakes that was 6 hours shorter?
  Posted: Nov 09, 2001   (572 votes, 17 comments) by W4AN

Survey Results
More likely to operate 21% (120)
I'd operate either way 58% (329)
Less likely to operate 11% (61)
What is Sweepstakes? 11% (62)

Survey Comments
ARRL SS Contest
I don't operate SS at all, not because of the length of the contest,
but because of the overly cumbersome exchange. It just turns me
off, and I love to contest. I'm not suggesting a " 59 goodbye" exchange,
but something could be done to make it a lot less "lengthy".

Posted by N4SEA on December 2, 2001

How about 18 hours?
Maybe we could get better results if we were only allowed to claim 18 hours for score but were allowed to work all 30. The contester could pick his most productive hours to claim for score after he goes over his log and still be on to generate activity for the others.

Posted by NG9R on November 24, 2001

Why change?
This is my favorite contest. I can get 24 hours of contesting in with reasonable rates the whole time. The required 6 hour break gives me a chance to rest, eat, tend to kids, etc. while also injecting a strategic factor. My little pistol station has yet to pick up the sweep. A shorter contest would make this harder.

Posted by K0GN on November 23, 2001

Short SS Category
I'd like to see a new Precedence/Category. It
would be something like "H" for doing Half the SS. Maybe like 12 hours out of the total
period instead of the 24 of 30. I very much
LOVE SS and haven't missed it for over 30 years,
but it's too much of an endurance test for me
in my golden years (57 now). An "H" class
person could be a casual operator or someone
that had personal commitments that knew they
wouldn't/couldn't be in it for the duration.
They could compete in that class versus just
deciding not to even start. Just a thought.

Posted by K8BL on November 21, 2001

Either way is fun, but short might be better?!?
I love SS!!!! I think if it were 6 hours shorter it might be a little funner. Look at NAQP, sprints ect.. other short contests... Its insane the whole time because everyone is scrambling to work everyone. Im not sure if it would HELP SS, but i dont think it would hurt it.. sunday was very slow for me, i did have one 50 hour late on 40.

I guess its worked for many years the same why change it? But, it might be a whole different contest without the slow parts of sunday.

Posted by KB9UWU on November 20, 2001

I would operate either way
I have to comment on K2UA posting When i operate SS i end up going over to some elses shack and do it because i don't much of a shack to begin with. But i agree one thing people don't know what they are missing. We had two opeators with us this weekend 1. Is new to our club and the other just got bit by the contest bug or perhaps both of them did. But not only do we need to recruit new hams but contesters in general or we are not going to have anything in the future.

73 Tim McCuiston N�SZE 92 KS


Posted by n0sze on November 19, 2001

How slow is too slow?
Mike, K9NW asks how slow too slow is...

While this is a question probably more intended to make people think about the absurdity of "too slow" - I will relate what I think the actual rates are like. If I can produce an hour of 40 QSOs or more during Sunday afternoon/evening - then that is an excellent hour. If I can string several of those in a row, then I am going to start moving ahead of other people. Most of the hours end up around 30-35 QSOs. Sometimes, it dips below 30, and when I see that happening, I try to take a break. However, if you take a break, and miss an opportunity to make 20 QSOs in that period, then you are going to lose ground. However, if you are low power or QRP, you can probably expect slightly higher rates.

Interesting comments from K7BG - Matt.. you need to join us on six meters. It's like that all of the time!!!

73 Tree

Posted by n6tr on November 16, 2001

What is competition?
There are two kinds of competitors in this sport: (1)rate addicts and (2)everybody else.

I know I need my head candled, but I have had fun seriously working the ARRL 10m contest during cycle bottoms wherein I only made around 150 Q's the whole weekend!! Every time a meteor trail would pop a few more W6's through I eagerly worked and logged them and I had a blast!! Sure I love 250 an hour when the bands open, but it's a whole different can of worms. Variety is the spice of radiosport.

A rate of 27 an hour ain't bad at all in my book, especially if you know the competition is only working 25 an hour.

Love and hugs to all,
Matt--K7BG

Posted by k7bg on November 15, 2001

Threshold?
I've seen lots of comments over the years that Sunday in SS is too slow, needs changes, etc. What I've never seen anyone quantify is:

What rate threshold on Sunday would mark the difference between "too slow, change something" and "acceptable rate, everything is fine?"

73, Mike K9NW

Posted by K9NW on November 14, 2001

I agree
Obviously getting more people on the air is the best solution. I'm going to work on our local club for next year. K9PG's efforts with the SMC have been noted and if applied countrywide, would have a dramatic effect on the contest.

Posted by W4AN on November 13, 2001

East coast rates
Thanks for the rate sheet Bill. I had no idea that the 160 meter contest could be so exciting. Out here on the west coast, we are happy to work over 10 guys an hour after the initial rush. I hear you were at a "pretty good" station, and that might help.

Perhaps this explains our different perception of the Sunday afternoon experience. Maybe west coast operators are better suited to operate during slow periods because we are used to it. We have had to adapt to fact that the JAs are no longer out in strong numbers and have to even resort to answering their CQs (this would have been unthinkable 25 years ago).

Maybe you should try a 160 contest using your remote station from Washington and see how it compares.

However, back to the matter at hand, I think we need to measure the success of the contest not by how much fun you and I have - or most anyone else who is putting in a full time effort. Instead, the real measure of success is how many non-serious participants can be convinced to spend a few hours working the rest of us. I am not sure that Sunday is a problem for them, and shortening the contest will just limit their ability to fit in some operating time around their normal weekend activities.

One could see that limiting the opportunity for someone to find the contest by mistake will result in reducing the number of casual operators over time. In short, this could help accelerate the deminse of CW contesting as we know it.

Instead of just cutting back - let's work the problem. What things can be done to make this more fun for the casual operator? Do we need some different awards? Maybe some cumulative awards. Maybe even awards that show up in your mailbox even if you didn't send in a log.

This is our challenge. Let's invest some of our time and even dollars into improving activity and not just give up by reducing the contest period.

Tree N6TR

Posted by n6tr on November 13, 2001

Too long on West Coast
I have a love/hate relationship with SS, but do feel that on the West Coast it is simply too long. Tpically one operates from 1 pm local time on Saturday to about 1 am on Sunday, when everything shuts down. There's no point starting up again before about 7 am local on Sunday, but there just isn't 12 hours of useful contesting to be done in the next 12 hours of the contest. There are usually one or two decent hours around 8-10 am or so, and then sometimes the last two hours are OK, but in between is a vast wasteland. I'd vote for running the contest for 24 hours, but only allowing 18 or 20 hours of on time. This would also be less disruptive to the weekend.
73 and CU in SS Phone this weekend, Andy, AE6Y

Posted by ae6y on November 13, 2001

160 Contest
I'll send you my rate sheet from the ARRL 160 contest last year. I don't think there was a single hour below the rate I did for 7 hours in SS.

Posted by W4AN on November 12, 2001

Fun for who?
For those big guns who were bored on Sunday, think about how much fun those QRP stations were having working you.

I think it is more important for the casual operators to have fun than it is to make the contest fun for those trying to massage their egos by putting up a top ten score.

Sunday is lots of fun for fresh meat, who can enjoy super station rates with low power for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Besides, all of that hard work Sunday helps separate the men from the boys and rewards those who put in the extra effort to finish on top.

If you want a short contest without this grueling mud wrestle, try the NAQP or Sprints. Avoid 160 meter contests at all costs.

73 Tree N6TR (operator at W5WMU in CW SS).

Posted by n6tr on November 12, 2001

SS is too long
The last 5 hours of SS I was CQing the entire time and working the 2nd radio as hard as I know how. This yielded an average of 27 QSOs per hour for the 5 hours. I don't enter a contest to not compete, and I don't enter contest to not have fun. Therefore, I would like to compete in an SS that is more fun.... The 24 hour SS. And, when the last 5 hours of the 24 hour SS are 27 per hour... it will be time to scale back some more. I just don't understand this "If it didn't suck, it wouldn't be SS" mentality. Some years ago the winning USA score was 1550 QSOs. Now it is 1420. When it is 1000 and the last 5 hours of the contest yields 10 QSOs per hour... will the 30 hour SS still make sense to you guys?

Posted by W4AN on November 10, 2001

I would operate either way
But it would be a big mistake to mess with this great contest's format; rather, all of us who love SS need to get out there and personally RECRUIT MORE PEOPLE to get on and operate in it!

Posted by k2ua on November 9, 2001

Short SS....No thank you
If you don't want to operate the full 24 hours, then don't. I enjoy the challenge of the full 24 hours. Those who complain that rates get slower at the end of the contest, I'd like to know of any contest that the rates don't get slower at the end. Should we eliminate the 48 hours for CQWW because we don't have 100 plus hours at the end? Why not just make SS six hours and then there would be no slow times. As a matter of fact let's make CQWW run from Saturday 1200Z to 1600Z. Everybody has time to do a four hour contest and absolutely no slow time.
Gimme a break!

Posted by k4xs on November 9, 2001

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