The big factor in ham radio contesting is MONEY. If you have a lot, you can virtually buy your way into the big boys club (in fact - that is what makes one a big boy). That leads to the very large array type contest stations. Of course, they are going to win out every time ove the guy sitting at home with 100 watts, and dipoles, and even those with a kw and/or a 100 ft tower and 6 element multi banders. And before anyone starts yelling SKILL SKILL SKILL, at me; think on this. Two people, with who wind up on the same calling freq, at the exact same time, call the DX. They live across town from each other, and the propagation cloud favors each other the exact same way. Nw - who is going to get thru first? First will be the guy who has the better antenna? Or the person with the higher power? Yes- voice can and does have some input here, and the one who has a better "radio" voice, has the best chance. Lets say one is a YL, and one a deep husked OM. You know who will make it first in that case. But lets say they are twins, and not only use the same radio, but the same mike. Now who will get thru?
How often will such take place? Not at all likely,for sure, but if one has 6 elements at 100 feet, and the other 3 elements at 30 feet,you can bet the one with the higher antenna will get thru first , 99 percent of the time. So, again it comes out to money. So what does all this mean? Those who are really "equal" in equiptment/location etc. really do have an equal opportunity in the test. Those who have lesser equipment, must then depend more on their skills, in order to compete. Yes - their are different levels of competition, and those with 100 watts and a diipole can and do get in the contests, and sometimes even win - as long asthe competionis others within the same equipment constraints. But, given just a handfull of stations running the same 100 watts, but with a multitude of very tall towers, then the former might as well take down and pack their shingles, as far as putting paper on the wall goes. The very best time Ive seen, contest wise, was my first and only Novice Roundup. Limited to 70 watts input, we didnt have "power" stations in there competing. And, yes, some did have better antennas than others, but the vast majority were just younger guys, with no money to speak of, and who had thrown up homebrew wire dipoles. Ones skill and wile really did make all the difference in the world. TheWorld Radio Championships of today are sort of that same way. Each pair of contesters, assigned a station with similar antennas, power, and location: competes only against others of the same class. The winners? Those who prove themselves to be the better tacticians and on-air operators! That is real contesting. Any of us can be invited to a multi-multi big boy station, and sit there our apponted hour or so at a time, and yell into a microphone, hooked to a rig (set on one freq the whole test), running into a KW max output, run to a 4-7 element single bander and score point after point after point. Now lets dont take this wrong, many, and probably most, of those operators are indeed the top cream of the crop , and that is why they have been invited there in the first place- having proven themselves in their own stations as top notch contesters, over the years. They are given the leeway to change freqs as necessary, according to props, and to start searching when their thruput numbers start to drop, etc. So, their actual radio skills do come forward at that time. Of course here, we are talking of SSB ops. The CW world is a whole other thing. Contest stations dont invite the slow and unskilled to participatein those stations, during a contest. Those operators are indeed picked from the "already skilled". But to get back to the "equal opportunity" that the rest of us face, its pretty not much there anymore, unless you have the money to make your station better than everyone elses, there is NO equal opportunity for you, and doing that no longer gives the other an equal opportunity competing with you. Self esteem come from what you do, with what you have. There appear to be more and more people working contests, so it seems that people are doing so, knowing from the get-go, they are very unlikely to be in the winners circle. Maybe they do what I do - work a few for other awards, such as DXCC or the Marathon award. Its just not worth it to me, to sit here 48 hours, banging away, with no real hope of winning a conterst, but it definitely is worth the effort to put in a few hours for those fills I need. Danny Douglas N7DC ex WN5QMX ET2US WA5UKR ET3USA SV0WPP VS6DD N7DC/YV5 G5CTB All 2 years or more (except Novice). Short stints at: DA/PA/SU/HZ/7X/DU CR9/7Y/KH7/5A/GW/GM/F Pls QSL direct, buro, or LOTW preferred, I Do not use, but as a courtesy do upload to eQSL for those who do. Moderator DXandTALK http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DXandTalk Digital_modes http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digital_modes/?yguid=341090159 ----- Original Message ----- From: DaveNF2G To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 9:29 AM Subject: [digitalradio] Re: DominoEX 11 is more democratic The idea that everyone should artificially be given an "equal" opportunity in a competitive environment that is ruled by the laws of physics is absurd. People need to remember that there are some things that not everyone is capable of doing and that their "exclusion" from those endeavors serves a valid purpose. Evidently the demand for unearned self-esteem is not only an American problem. 73 de Dave, NF2G
