I was wondering when someone would bring this up.
Let me make this perfectly clear... I have NO problem with people renting
out contest shacks. Heck, if you have the money to build a super shack, be
it domestic or rare DX or anywhere in between, and you're not going to be
using it on particular contest (or other) weekend, why not?
It was just the way this one was offered that was odd... limiting the number
of ops to rent, severely limiting the directions to the location and not
releasing them to almost the last minute, requesting a minimal payment to
cover electricity and an additional amount in order to use the club call,
virtually guaranteeing a high score, and most importantly, insisting that
ANYONE who showed up HAD to operate (think about it... this means if the
site owners and their friends show up, the guys who paid to use the site
have to step aside? What's the point in renting it then?)
I now have some more information available. The site in question is owned
by a group of amateurs known as the "South Mountain Group" or "South
Mountain Project." The site is owned by WA1HHN, was formerly owned by
K3MQH, and has often run under the call K3EAR in VHF contests. Most or all
of the owners/operators are members of the Murgas ARC in
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PA, and they have run under the K3YTL club call in two
recent PA QSO Parties.
My understanding from the Murgas club is that the SMG requested more funds
this year to operate K3YTL from their site than the club was willing to
allocate. Thus the offer to at least three PA clubs that I know of
(Wireless Association of South Hills, North Coast Contesters, and Carbon
ARC) and probably more to rent the site for the Pa QSO Party. And based on
the phrasing of the entire email, which I summarized in the earlier email,
it sounds like the SMG ops want to help the renters out at the expensive of
Murgas (and personally, I'd just as soon stay out of intra-club squabbles,
if you know what I mean...) But as I understand the PaQP rules, if the SMG
ops do operate a significant portion of the other club's operations, and are
not themselves members of that club... well, it muddies the water. In
short, the "guarantee" of 250K+ points to help out the club score may be
useless as it may not count. Fortunately, that's an issue for the Pa QSO
Party folks to unravel, not me!
Enough... no point in beating this further into the ground. Suffice to say,
a strange situation all the way around, and leave it at that.
73, ron wn3vaw
----- Original Message -----
> Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 04:38:18 -0000
> From: "Randy Thompson, K5ZD" <k5zd@charter.net>
> Subject: RE: [CQ-Contest] Rent-A-Shack
> To: "Tom Osborne" <w7why@charter.net>, "CQ Contest"
> <cq-contest@contesting.com>
> Gee, I think the WP2Z station (and others) do the rent-a-station thing
now.
> Why would that not be legal?
>
> My station available. Make an offer!
>
> K5ZD
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
> > [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Tom Osborne
> > Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 00:36 AM
> > To: CQ Contest
> > Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Rent-A-Shack
> >
> >
> >
> > From: "Ron Notarius" <
> > Subject: [CQ-Contest] Rent-A-Shack
> >
> >
> > Rent a QTH is one thing. But rent a complete operating station
> > including operators? With all due respect... if they're shack is so
> > good, why aren't they operating it themselves as themselves? Am I
> > missing something here?
> > ___________________________________________________
> >
> > Well, is it legal?? If so, there's a chance to make some money on ham
> > radio. Set up some stations all around the country and rent them out
> > for contests. Charge $n.n per Q or something. Get some big guns in
> > there and make a few bucks off your ham ticket.
> >
> > Even better, just hire a bunch of guys to operate for you. Just stay
> > home and let some dudes operate the contest at a rented station with
> > rented hams using your call. Connect to the station with ICQ and chat
> > with them while they are operating for you.
> >
> > Does it seem like there is something missing here?
> > Tom W7wHY
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > CQ-Contest mailing list
> > CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
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