As I do not recall seeing this mentioned here before, I would like
to call everyone's attention to the following URL:
(http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/98/rules-novss.html)
These are not, despite the "98" in the URL, the 1998 ARRL November Sweepstakes
rules. These are not, despite the fact that the link to the 1998 rules
on the ARRL's November 1998 contests page takes you to this URL, the 1998 ARRL
November Sweepstakes rules. These appear to be new rules intended for 1999.
There have been some DRASTIC changes made to the School Radio Clubs
category, including a rule banning faculty participation in the Collegiate
Championships, and a rule making the simple addition of phone and CW scores
(CW ops, are you paying attention!?!!) the way to determine a "combined
score."
I don't believe anyone who operated in the 1998 School Radio Clubs
category has been asked about these changes. I stumbled across them by
accident, trying to look up details of the 1998 rules.
If you believe these rules are horrible, as I do, PLEASE email your
ARRL Division Director and ask him/her to forward your comments to the
ARRL Membership Services Committee as soon as possible. This is the
protocol. I've already sent in my comments. You can find your Director's
email address at (http://www.arrl.org/divisions/).
I think the entirety of the School Radio Club rules are now broken
beyond repair. We were treated as second class entrants in the 1998
contests, and now we're even being told that some of our club members
cannot operate. Unless some major changes are made before the 1999
Sweepstakes, it is almost a certainty that N5XU will not be submitting
as a Collegiate entry.
In 1998, 25% of the college and university clubs that submitted
Sweepstakes scores did not do so in the School Radio Clubs category.
These rules will definitely make that ratio worse.
An excerpt from my comments:
-----
How I think the Collegiate Championships should have been integrated
into the ARRL November Sweepstakes is similar to how the club competition
has been worked into several ARRL contests. When I operate ARRL DX and
submit my score with "Central Texas DX and Contest Club" on the summary
sheet, my score is really counting for two scores - whichever entry class
I operated in, and the club score. The club competition is essentially
a "reporting category" as opposed to an "entry category." I think the
Collegiate Championships should have been implemented as a similar "reporting
category," where only one entry from each college or university is allowed,
and with the stipulation that the reporting entry should have been made from
an on-campus club station, if one exists. That would have been much simpler
to implement than two new entry categories, and generated a lot less
grief for the ARRL Contest Branch. This change could, in fact, be made
before the 1999 rules are published.
-----
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Kenneth E. Harker "Vox Clamantis in Deserto" kharker@cs.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin Amateur Radio Callsign: KM5FA
Department of the Computer Sciences President, UT Amateur Radio Club
Taylor Hall TAY 2.124 Maintainer of the Linux Laptop Home Page
Austin, TX 78712-1188 USA http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/
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