My personal belief is that much of the grief that contesters have with the
rules is a desire by some to 'game the rules' - rather than understand the
'spirit of the rules.'
The time off in contests is supposed to represent the time you are not
operating. Operating includes listening.
For example, the ARRL Sweepstakes has the following rules about off times:
2.6. Times off and on must be clearly noted in paper logs. In
electronically-submitted Cabrillo logs, off-times are calculated by the
log-checking software.
2.7. Listening time counts as operating time.
Now, it is difficult (generally impossible) to tell from looking at the log
when someone is listening and not transmitting. However, the 'spirit of the
rule' is that when you start listening again, you are operating, and thus your
off time is over. [See related topic: Rubber Clocking]
So, the operator in the example posted earlier was almost certainly was
listening before 23:01:26 in order to complete a QSO by 23:01:33.
"So, whilst eating that same dinner, I noted that the last contact in the
log was22:01::25 That's 22 hours 01 minute and 25 seconds.
I was looking very carefully, and when 23:01::25 came around I made
another contact which was logged at 23.01::33 in the N1MM Log."
Ethics is what you do when no one is looking over your shoulder. If you keep
that in mind, very few contest rules require great thought.
Terry N4TZ
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