KØHB wrote:
"an old friend" wrote


maybe a contest where the points were on how long
you were able to hold a contact how much airtime
you were able to fill with a near stanger



Be interesting to see how you could set up the scoring matrix...... If it was
simply length of contact (not the amount of information exchanged) then the real
slow talkers/slow senders would win. A built in advantage for southerners!

Would you have an upper limit on a contact length, and would the scoring be
linear...... for example 1 point per each 30 seconds of each contact, or
hockey-stick scoring with 1 point for 30 seconds, 5 points for one minute, 100
points for five minutes, and a bazzilion points for an hour?

What would you use for multipliers?

The thought occurs that newcomers are often somewhat mic-shy --- would they be
drawn to this kind of activity?


73, de Hans, K0HB




Hans
I suspect that many newcomers are intimidated by the action in contests
like SS. They know they have no realistic expectation of winning. The
efforts like participation pins may help a bit. Again looking at SS the
first hours are quite frantic and top contesters give the exchange very
fast. If a newcomer isn't quite sure what was said or what he must say
they are not likely to respond.
I have heard some operators patiently explain what the exchange is and
help a first timer. However this appears to be a relative rarity as it
slows down the rate.
How about an incentive for the big scorers to work the newcomers? More
points per QSO if the check is less than 5 years old? More points if the
serial number is also below a certain threshhold? If it makes the big
guns more likely to be helpful I thin it would encourage those that are
a bit timid to join in. Also, can the contest logs be used to get
credit toward ARRL awards like WAS the way it used to be for DXCC?
Given the cost of QSLs and the return rate, that could also be an
incentive for some newcomers.
BTW - How did you do?
73, John K4BNC