"Spotting assistance" is the use of a third party for station/frequency
info. PacketCluster is considered spotting assistance. If you work
someone who is NOT Rover X and he says "Rover X is on 144.245", that's
spotting assistance.
The various Internet sked and QSO boards are considered spotting
assistance.
Making a sked with another station directly, on the air, at ANY time, is
NOT spotting assistance. Working up the bands is not spotting assistance.
Making a sked with someone via non-amateur radio means is permitted
BEFORE the contest or AFTER it (a lot of good the sked is going to do for
your contest score after the contest!)
:-)
Making a sked with another station directly via amateur radio during the
contest is permitted. So if Station A is running on 6m and Station B
wants to work Station A on all the other bands but doesn't want to
interfere with Station A's run, it's OK to say "Meet me on 144.260 at
0200Z and we can work up the bands."
73, Zack W9SZ
On Thu, 19 Jun 2008, Sebastian wrote:
> Dave, please don't take this as an accusal, but isn't asking someone
> during the contest to move to another band to make a qso considered to
> be "Use of spotting assistance"?
>
> I guess what I really want to know is the definition of exactly what
> spotting assistance is.
>
> My original question of whether skeds are ok, before AND after a
> contest, has not been addressed. I'm guessing it's ok, since I heard
> many stations on 6m ask if the other had 2m or 440, etc. But if it is
> ok, IMHO the definition needs to be made clear. Don't forget, I'm a
> contest newbie here.
>
> 73 de W4AS
> Sebastian
>
> On Jun 19, 2008, at 7:08 AM, David Olean wrote:
>
>> Hello Sebastian,
>> I made no contacts above 432 this time around in June, but usually
>> can make 50-75 Qs on 1.2 CW and SSB from my location in SW Maine.
>> The way we all do it is to work someone on either six or two and run
>> them up the bands. The six and two ops ask each station worked if
>> they have higher bands and proceed from there. Single op stations
>> do likewise.
>> Before the limited multi category was established, there was
>> enough random activity on 1296 so that the guy running that station
>> called CQ periodically, and got answers. There were "activity hours"
>> for each band. The limited multi rules caused a big drop in stations
>> active on 1296. That, combined with computer logging, enabled more
>> efficient running up the higher bands (at least for multi op
>> stations) The result today is that there are almost no random
>> contacts on the bands above 432 here. They are all sent up after
>> working them on a lower frequency.
>>
>> 73
>> Dave K1WHS
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sebastian" <w4as@bellsouth.net>
>> To: "VHF Contesting Reflector" <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:34 PM
>> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Post-Contest Grid Square Queries
>>
>>
>>> First, I admit I'm a newbie when it come to contests of any kind. As
>>> I've mentioned before, this was the first contest I have ever
>>> seriously participated in. I didn't go in there planning to win
>>> anything, just to have fun and work as many stations as possible. If
>>> I win something, great, if not; I won't be disappointed. I already
>>> got the fun out of it that I wanted. My 2 meter & 440 rotor wouldn't
>>> cooperate so I wasn't able to use those bands.
>>>
>>> Now on to the purpose of this email:
>>>
>>> 2.1.3. Use of spotting assistance or nets (operating arrangements
>>> involving other individuals, DX-alerting nets, packet, etc) is not
>>> permitted.
>>>
>>> I'm not a lawyer. I think the above sentence is very clear. No
>>> outside assistance or arrangements are to be used to work other
>>> stations.
>>>
>>> My conscience is clear, but I must admit that I didn't dwell on this
>>> rule during the contest. I didn't feel a need to use DX Sherlock, or
>>> even the DX clusters, because there was already a lot of activity on
>>> the band. But those stations that claim dozens of contacts on 1.2
>>> GHz
>>> and above; you can't expect anyone to believe that those stations
>>> just
>>> happened to be on there listening for you. Now if those contacts
>>> were
>>> arranged prior to the contest, does that make them 'legal'?
>>>
>>>
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