Do Contests Need to Change? Kyle Krieg AA0Z Makes His Case

Thank you, I was unaware of "Online Scoreboard", and I will have a look, but I still think my point is valid. "Online Scoreboard" from the description is an add-hock service and not integral to the contest. When a contest is finished the scores and rankings should be immediately known. ARRL or other coordinating entity should host a system that does the immediate log correlations and score tabulations. Logging software used by contestants should auto post to this site to give real-time results and be mandatory for the contest or at least a multiplier advantage. Otherwise, for me and many others, the fun of a contest will remain purely the thrill of the hunt at the time of the contest and scoring has no relevance.

 

No problem. From what I understand, the logging program *does* auto-post to the Online Scoreboard with each QSO to give real-time scores. But only for those that use the website and software required to integrate it into the logging program. You could do it and see your score compared to others real-time. But the great majority don't use it.

I'm an avid contester and spend a decent amount of time in the major ones, but don't have the station (nor the skills of the super-ops) to score high, so I don't use it. I'll just refer to 3830scores.com in a couple of days (giving others a chance to post before the deadline) to see how I approximately fared compared to others in the same category. When I say "approximately", keep in mind that the Scoreboard and 3830 only show 'raw' scores before log checking, and not everyone posts to it. I also believe that *instant* log checking and correlation (as you propose) is not yet something that the contest sponsors can do. Thus it takes a while for *final* scores to be posted on the contest websites.

 

Yessir, but no luck yet. I know it’s not all about one dude, but it’s not just me. Here’s some commentary/stats from this months issue of Solid Copy -

“This switch to daylight savings time has a significant nega-
tive effect on the number of participants in the 0300z CW”

“The 0300z session has mark-
edly fewer participants from Europe and the rest of the world (5% EU and 1.5% others), but there
is also reduced participation from North America relative to the two earlier sessions, especially
after the time change, so the overall numbers are smaller: 256-296 before the time change, and
214-228 after the change so far.”

Having said that, the time change may be advantageous for those on the west coast.

 

I watched this video and I am happy to see folks diving into what is wrong with ham radio contesting. Ham radio as a hobby is dying a slow death! The ARRL is floundering and in a state of failure. I read all the comments on this thread and it is mostly your typical old curmudgeon BS that we always get from hams. Half, always fighting the good fight to prevent change at all costs, the other half, hating on contesting all together. The biggest issue with ham radio is these folks and they are everywhere. No matter what you say to them they will argue back to tradition or past practice. The biggest issue with ham radio is the old folks in ham radio fighting change with their dying breath!

Making our hobby appeal to youth is very important, yet most hams not only make no effort to get new younger hams, most are against it completely. I have tried to combine YouTube and Ham Radio and I found it difficult. Many Hams do not want to stream anything or blog about anything. They are in it for themselves. They don’t care to share what they do with the world and they could not be bothered to try!

Why does ham radio contesting suck… in one word… “complication” ham radio people seem to love rules, laws, statues, penal codes, ordinances, and antiquated complicated operating guidelines written 100 years ago. It is frustrating. Contesting has become the epitome of this. Every contest has hundreds of rules. There is no standardization or common practice between contests. Logging and log submission are just convoluted, antiquated, and hardly worth the effort. No one contests because it is a pain in the ass. Several of the latest contests I tried to participate in, I was excited, and ready, and when it started my contest logging software would not let me log on most of the bands. As usual I gave up and went and did something else. Contesting will never be a big deal until they simplify the process and the procedures, and they lose most of the stupid old fashioned rules!

For a group of people interested in communications technology, Radio Amateurs are pretty crappy communicators and they certainly are NOT innovators.

Suggestion: Just use the ARRL’s wonderful logbook of the world disaster of a website and correlate and match contacts made between people who are participating in the contest! done! Instantly! Boom… Contesting just became easy as hell. Set an upload deadline, correlate the contacts, and show instant results! Clean, easy! Bam! Why all the BS? Why all the complications? Stupid!

Finally, contests are dying because of lazy hamsters… sitting on ass using an appliance. Despite the difficulty, and frequent defeat, I still try! If it works I contest, if it does not work, I mow the lawn.

I agree with nearly everything the guest said. He is spot on. We need to bring the hobby into the future.

 

This of course explains why there were nearly 10,000 logs in the last CQWW - an increase of about 17.7% over the last cycle peak. Or the last CQWPX which had 8,600 logs - a 53% increase over the last cycle peak.

Not every one uses LoTW. Not everyone wants to use LoTW. There is more to QSO scoring than QSO matching.

Dying, Which of course is explained by the 50% increase in logs.

 

But of course some people may have a skin in the contest game

 

Name one contest that has hundreds of rules.

 

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What I said was pretty clear... Have a good day.

 

Sure was

 

Thanks for your opinion, or should I say rant. Now, tell us how you REALLY feel about contesting.

If it's such a PITA to you, then there's a simple solution...don't participate, and stop whining about something you know nothing about. Like you said, go mow your lawn, and leave contests to those who enjoy it.

Maybe it's not for everyone, but then again so is ragchewing, DXing, VHF/UHF, moonbounce, SOTA, POTA, and many other activities that ham radio offers. But you won't see me complaining about any of those. To each his/her own...fine with me.

Now, get off my lawn.

 

Yeah, we we were first licensed back in the day, we thought we knew it all too.

 

There already is such a thing! Look it up. Simulated ham radio.