There are contests that are exclusive to certain modes. As examples, we have contests that only permit the use of voice or CW or RTTY. When there are mixed mode contests it is not uncommon to allow double points for CW and perhaps digital modes because they do not compete well against voice.
This is due to the fact that contesting requires a fast exchange of minimal information. If you have tried to use most digital modes during contests, they are very, very, slow compared to voice. If you had a contest where larger amounts of data were required to be exchanged, then it would be possible for some digital modes to compete better. If the exchange was not only lengthy, but needed complete accuracy, you would find that only a few modes would be able to do this well and it would likely be ARQ digital modes. Ironically, we don't have contests of this type and yet it would much more accurately reflect our abilities to handle emergency messages. I have thought about this over the years and have to admit that it would not be easy to design such a contest. On the other hand, I have seen some comments by misinformed or very biased folks that older modes, and they include both analog and digital ones, are "legacy" modes, implying that the newer digital modes make the communication more "modern" or have some other feature that works better. Sometimes this could be true for certain applications, but it is not true when you look at the actual use, such as a contest where the newest modes do not compete well. 73, Rick, KV9U Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote: > > This is interesting. Various digital proponents have > tirelessly pointed out how "inefficient" these "obsolete" > modes are. Why not let them compete too and let the > best mode win? > > Rick N6RK > > >
