I think that the rig is not very important. One tidbit to support this
theory, although far from conclusive, is to compare what happened to
the OE3DIA team in 2010 vs 2014.
In 2010 there was a nasty lightning storm the took out both of this
teams K3's. They were knocked out about 1 hour into the contest. But
Yaesu had some reps on site and they had a pair of FT857's which they
loaned to the team. They lost about an hour in the switchover. So they
ran for 23 hours while the other teams ran for 24.
If you compare their score at the end of the contest to the other
teams after 23 hours (the hour-by-hour scores was available on the
Russian web site for a while after the contest) they were in about the
middle of the pack. This is using K3's for 1 hour and FT857's for 22
hours.
In 2014 I see no notes about anyone suffering such a loss and the
OE3DIA team finished 22nd out of 59. Again about the middle of the
pack. I think this somewhat better than their 23 hour comparison in
2010, but not a lot better.
This would tend to indicate that - when in the hands of very competent
operators - a pair of lowly FT857's is nearly as good as a pair of K3's.
Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying the FT857 is as good as a
K3, it is *not*. No doubt about that. In fact, it is not as good as a
K2. I have those two sitting here side by side and I can assure you
that the K2 is the superior rig. What it says to me is that the K3 and
others of its class are somewhat overkill. The lowly FT857 is 'nearly
good enough'. Certainly not great, but 'nearly good enough'.
73 de dave
ab9ca/4
On 7/25/14 2:44 PM, K8JHR wrote:
Shucks, fellers. All that does not add up.
WE can rationalize this any way we like, but the fact is, 5 of the 6
best operators did not choose a K3, and I know least one other happy
K3 owner used a Brand-X radio for the competition, and in all of his
qualifying rounds.
Logically - If you say the rig does not matter, and it all turns on
operator skill ... then no one can brag about any particular radio
used in the competition for any reason. We cannot have it both ways.
We cannot say the K3 is best because 70 percent of the field used one,
but it does not matter what the winners used, because after all, it
all turns on operator skill. If the rig does not matter for the
winners, it does not matter for anyone.
So the unfortunate bottom line take-away is the top three teams used 5
5 ICOMS and one K3.
Again, if you claim the radio does not matter, then it does not
matter, and we cannot claim any victory for any rig used in the
contest. That would be inconsistent.
Personally, I think the fact 70 percent of the field used the same
model radio is significant, although it may just prove it is easier
than other radios to ship and travel with. Still... it is a big number.
Just MY take.
----------------------- K8JHR ---------------------
On 7/25/2014 8:27 AM, Barry wrote:
I agree completely. The rig and logging software have very to do
with the
outcome.
The #1 team probably has a sore back and sore arms, from lugging
7800s there
:-)
Barry W2UP
Don Wilhelm-4 wrote
Yes, very interesting, and I think most of the credit goes to the
operators, rather than the radios.
However, the fact that a very large percentage of these top operators
*choose* to use the Elecraft K3 does say a lot about the
desirability of
the K3 for contesting. Whether that be because of the weight, or
because of the performance and operating interface, you would probably
have to ask each K3 operator about his choice.
73,
Don W3FPR
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