IMHO,
Spotting/announcing done outside the actual 'contest period' seems like it
would not
fall afoul of the rules in any context or intent, but could be construed as a
bother or
a bit 'much' based on the quantity and type of 'spot' provided. Too much of a
good
thing is not good! HI!
I don't think anyone will argue that repetitive spotting during a contest
period is a
bad thing, especially if different stations do it at random (unscheduled or
unplanned) times within a given period. Those kinds of repetitive spots are not
bad even
if they appear fairly closely spaced in time. New stations are coming to the
clusters
all the time and what's 'old' to me may be a new mult to them.
For example - W3LPL spots a station at 1524Z. I'm running stations and not
paying close
attention to the spots. The screen scrolls quickly (as it often does) and LPL's
spot
disappears off the screen. Then I do S&P and at 1538 I tune across the same
station as
previously spotted by LPL, I don't need 'em so it wasn't on my list of avaiable
mults/calls so I don't know it's already been spotted, but someone else might
so I spot
'em. If you have already worked 'em he won't show.. if not. he will.
Likewise, as others come across the same station they might spot 'em at fairly
close
intervals. This is repetitive, but usually it's just the spot without the
repetitive
'cheerleading comments' that are usually appended to the repetitive spotting
being
disucssed such as with the ZF2MM example.
Repetitive spotting by different stations at closely spaced times does not seem
to be a
problem with anyone. What bugs people (me included) is the same station(s)
doing
specific stations over and over and over and over. Couple this with the
comments and
they are OBVIOUSLY trying to attract attention to teh station for some reason.
One COULD intimate that the spotter is a shill for the station and has
prearranged to
act as the contest spotter for that station. This would appear to be the case
with the
ZF2MM example given and many (myself included) would have valid concerns that
this is
nothing more than a dodge used to (technically) avoid running afoul of the ARRL
rule
that clearly prohibits stations from either asking to be spotted or stations
self-spotting themselves during the contest.
Yes, it can be argued that ZF2MM was not *TECHNICALLY SPEAKING* (during the
contest
period) - asking for, nor self-spotting himself. But the context of the
comments and the
repetitive nature of spotting by one or two stations makes it abundantly clear
that such
can be legitimately construed as the reason for all the spots since it appears
quite
likely that it was a Club member at ZF2MM and a Club member doing the spotting.
Even if
not so... there is a definite odor to the effort that raises eyebrows and
raises questions about conflicts of interest and the like.
Perhaps the basic action in this case would be for stations to apply the
well-understood
premise that the 'spirit and intent' of the rule be observed rather than the
'strict
letter or the law' which normally applies.
As for the station who works at a M/M then goes home and spots the station they
just
operated from, technically, again, not a violation, IMHO, but does raise an
odor and
questions. ONe thing I've learned about M/M's .. they usually find themselves
being
spotted quite a bit, regardless, based upon the nature of being a M/M and being
on the
air on many bands for a L O N G period of the contest.
73
Chuck K3FT
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