CQ WW CW 2010: Don't Forget Expanded Assisted Categories With More Awards Available

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted November 22, 2010

The "new" Assisted categories in CQ WW have already attracted more interest, as contest organizers try to find new ways to stimulate even more worldwide competition in the biggest amateur radio contests of the year.

For those who missed it the announcement, this year's CQ WW SSB introduced a larger opportunity for Assisted entries, which used to be lumped together into one group - no matter what power you were running.

"Most of all, the contest is about fun, and that's what we want to emphasize," said CQ WW Contest Chief Bob Cox K3EST.

"We will now list in the results all Assisted Low Power and QRP entries in the results," said Cox, "and they're available for all awards also."

"This greatly expands the Assisted category awards program."

The hope of the CQ WW Contest Committee is simple - use the extra awards to entice people to enter their Assisted entry in the Assisted category, whether in High Power, Low Power or QRP.

So far, a radio-sport.net review of the submitted logs for the 2010 CQ WW SSB contest shows the plan is working.

For example, in 2009, there were 233 entries which listed both Low Power and Assisted.

Just before the November 21 log submission deadline in 2010, there were over 330 entries for the Low Power Assisted category, a substantial increase, but still well below the numbers for both regular Low Power and High Power Assisted.

And if you want evidence that the new category is attracting interest, just look at the scores for proof.

In the 2009 CQ WW SSB, the highest claimed score from a Low Power/Assisted entry was just over a million points - in 2010, with the new category - there are already 10 entries over a million, with the high claimed score of 2.9 million from YU2A.

Meanwhile, for those of you searching for a future soft-spot in terms of entries, then maybe QRP-Assisted is for you.

In 2009, there were four entries with that in CQ WW SSB - so far in 2010, there are a total of five.

Those numbers may be larger for CW, which tends to attract more lower power entries overall.

CQ WW officials not only want to spur new interest in the expanded Assisted categories, but they also want to use that to get contesters to actually enter the correct category - in hopes of ending the days where an entrant uses outside spotting assistance, but does not declare it on their entry.

To that end, CQ WW needs more sponsors to help offer enough plaques for the winners of the extra Assisted categories, and make them even more attractive in the years ahead.

"We hope this new awards program will encourage Assisted entrants to participate and to try to win an award," Cox said.

Interest in the new Low Power/Assisted category seems to be spread fairly evenly around the world, with strong entries from Europe, North America, the Carribean, Asia and more.