VE6SRV writes:
Can you honestly say that the only reason that two family members operating
as a rover station using two callsigns is not attempting to manufacture
contacts?
Actually, that's the reason most rovers go out and operate under a single call
sign, to manufacture as many contacts as possible :-)
My wife and I have operated the last few VHF contests as rovers, making
contacts with both call signs. First of all, I don't think we need to worry
too much about taking first and second place away from anyone else. We'll be
out this weekend, but only in a very low-key operation, activating a few local
grids with QRP and squalos.
There is a case that can be made that we are artificially manufacturing
contacts *for the stations we work*, but you really can't make the case that
we are in some way artificially inflating our own scores. If we wanted to
generate the maximum possible score, the best strategy would be to operate
under a single call sign.
If we hear a station calling, obviously it takes longer for both of us to work
them than it would for just one of us to work them. In that time, conditions
can change, and the opportunity to work another QSO might be lost. Clearly,
if we just wanted to maximize our score, it would be a lot easier just to
operate with a single callsign, and doing so would result in a higher score
for that call.
Again, you could make the case that we are artificially increasing the score
of everyone we work, because they usually (but not always) get two QSOs
instead of one, but that doesn't seem to be what anyone is complaining about.
Incidentally, it seems to me that you couldn't prevent that anyway. If
someone wanted to send out a bus full of rovers, they could make all of the
contest QSOs they wanted, and all of those QSOs would be valid, even if the
ops in the bus were not qualified to enter the contest themselves in any
class. They could send in check logs, and it seems to me that all of their
QSO's would be valid.
In our case, we hand out two perfectly valid QSO's, and from the perspective
of the other operator, he still needs to copy two calls (and my XYL's call,
KC0OIA, is not exactly ideal for contesting). Granted, if the other op knows
what is going on, he really only needs to copy the grid once, but I think
there are many cases where you know the exchange even before you copy it.
Just for the record, I should point out that we don't work each other, at grid
corners or elsewhere. In fact, in the upper Midwest in a January contest,
there is no way either of us is going to get out of a warm car while the other
drives across the line to the next grid. In the first contest when we did
this--don't worry--we didn't come close to taking first place--we did work
each other a few times on the one band where we had separate equipment, 2
meters. After giving it some thought, however, we decided that probably
wasn't in keeping with the spirit of the rules, and do not do so any more.
73,
Rick W0IS
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