Ever notice that some of the biggest detractors of the creation of
ASSISTED classes for VHF Contesting are also among those who never show
up in your log? You can do some amazing things on the Internet,
including doing a search by callsign of CQ and ARRL VHF Contests over
the last several years. It's interesting to see who submitted a log, and
who did not.
Makes me wonder why some who seem to be so passionate about VHF
contesting don't bother to actually participate all that often.
Whie I work in public relations, I don't always appreciate attempts to
manipulate language to change the context of a discussion, or sway
opinion unfairly. I think referring to Marshall's proposal to create
ASSISTED categories in VHF Contests as "calling CQ on the Internt"
amounts to dirty pool.
Announcing that you are calling CQ on a given frequency, from a given
location does not constitute a contact. To do that you must actually
work them on the radio. It does make it easier to find and work stations
who may be within range of your stations--that is, after all, the
intention of the proposal. But if the person doing so competes on equal
ground with others in an ASSISTED class, who is harmed? Those who want
to be purists or luddites can continue to operate without assistance and
compete with others who feel the same way.
Personally, I prefer the much more liberal rules demonstrated in last
week's Sprint. Contacts and skeds can be arranged in advance of the
contest or during, by telephone, Internet, or smoke signals. But for the
contact to count it must be made via RF.. I tried and failed to work six
stations that I had skeds with arranged impromptu in a chat room. None
of them went in the log.
In the end it all comes down to honor and intergrity. You either work
them, or you don't. The same standard applies to debating a proposal.
You can do so fairly on the merit of the ideas, or you can attempt to
manipulate language. You can create a catchy turn of phrase, or you can
contribute ideas, effort, time, and yes....logs into the hobby.
I judge ideas and proposals based on merits. The merit of the idea
itself, and also the merit of the person putting it foward.
--
--
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
EM63nf
6M VUCC #1712
AMSAT #38965
Grid Bandits #222
Southeastern VHF Society
Central States VHF Society Life Member
Six Club #2484
Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light
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