Jim K9YC, understood thanks. What body within the ARRL made the final
decision?
Mike W0MU, there Is a whole lot to unpack from your questions, most of have
already been answered earlier in this thread by other stations or in
previous threads on this forum. In particular, Jim N6TJ ZD8Z etc did a
better job than I could in explaining how phone self-spots are different
from CW skimmer spots: one is being heard by someone or something other
than the station TXing, and the other is potentially being heard by no one
or nothing or nobody because it's being reported by the TXing station. I
have seen and heard this happen recently: often there is nothing there or
they're just testing but don't say so. Totally defeats the purpose of the
cluster.
The decision by ARRL was very poor and not well thought out because 2023
ARRL 10m Contest rules clearly contradicted themselves: you're not allowed
to solicit contacts during the contest by use of any non-amateur radio
means, yet the ARRL apparently sanctioned self-spotting, even by
"unassisted" stations. The below text is copied directly from the ARRL
rules for the 2023 10m Contest:
"PROH.3. Arranging, soliciting, or confirming any contacts during or after
the contest by use of any non-amateur radio means. All required elements of
a contact must be exchanged via amateur radio."
Self-spotting via the internet is clearly arranging or soliciting contacts
by use of non-amateur radio means. Did no one w/ the ARRL review their own
rules before allowing self-spotting, during that contest, or even
immediately after? That appears to be what happened and that is the very
definition of not well thought out and a poor decision. I and many others
evidently think this reflects poorly on the ARRL because they made this
decision in this manner.
You say self-spotting levels the playing field, but exactly the reverse is
true. Consider the small station, whether assisted or unassisted, that
loses or does not have internet access during the contest: since they
cannot self-spot to the cluster during that time, and other stations can,
are they not at a disadvantage?
Cheers and 73,
Chris N8ACP
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|