Hi Ron....WELL SAID....I posted something similar recently to my VUAC
rep. I encourage you to send your post to your rep as well.
Here is what I sent privately to another op on this question:
Unfortunately, these QSO's ARE allowed in the contests. That is what
the rule in question is all about. IF you make a "laser" contact with
the proper electronic decoding, it counts as a QSO in the contest.
This whole deal seems like someone got a rule inserted so that they
could "contest" with their experimental laser setups. That seems
innocent enough....let someone experiment with exotic gear and have
fun. Then came the guys that just insist on driving a freight train
through every possible loophole in the ARRL's rules(and there are plenty
of them). Someone started making flashlight contacts across the grid
lines.....and the race was on to rape the rules yet again.
I have posted that the rules should not allow contacts in a RADIO
contest that were not made on RADIO. We are a licensed service. If a
frequency does not require an Amateur Radio License to use, then it
should not be in an Amateur Radio contest. Simple. This cuts out all
the "light" QSOs and all the crap.
Here are some important questions: Who is benefiting from this rule?
Who wanted it put into the rules in the first place? How many laser
contacts are being counted in the logs? Inquiring minds want to know.
Since the ARRL refuses to make the logs public, I am not sure how anyone
can know.
Another point--the number of such "QSOs" has to be vanishingly small.
IF all such "QSOs" were banned from the contest, I cannot believe that
it would significantly change anything.
I do NOT oppose the experimentation going on with lasers and all sorts
of gear above the 275GHz(or 300GHz whatever) frequency limit. More
power to those hardy souls up there. Let them do whatever they want.
However, the issue here is, "Why should this be part of an Amateur Radio
contest?". Since practically everyone admits that lasers are NOT radio,
the answer is that laser contacts should not be counted in the contests.
73 Marshall K5QE
Rogers, Ron wrote:
> This part of the VHF contest rules has been suspect and open to debate for at
> least 30 years now and I have been VHF-UHF contesting for over 40 years.
>
> Why not get rid of the debate and/or need for further "definition of terms"
> by simply restricting all operation and point scoring to "the RADIO
> frequencies" within the approved US amateur bands between 50 MHz and 300 GHz.
>
> Most of us veterans have never seen any practical value toward "advancing the
> state of the art" by even allowing light wave transmission and detection for
> the purpose of these contests.
>
>
> Ron
> WW8RR
>
>
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