EXCERPTS:
>...re: CQ 160 m SSB Contest ethics.
>
>Consensus is: Rules are ment to be kept, offenders should be punished. It
>would be beneficial to have Contest Committe observers to gently remaind
>offenders and where appropriate, report to the Contest sponsor and present
>recomendation for eventual disqualification.
>On hogging the frequency, there is no rule against it....
>There seems to be less and less tolerance, gentlemen's behaviour and
>sportsmanship among some of our fellow contesters.
>There were about 17 "hogs" and 1500 disgusted operators in the
>last contest, because of frequency hogging.
______________
Contesting demands a level playing field, and the only way that can be
accomplished today appears to be by seeking our own level, as does raw
sewage. That needs to change.
Quite a few contesters are lids because they follow the axiom, "You
don't need manners if you are driving a Sherman tank." After all, how much
smarts and money does it take to assemble an Obnoxious Big Gun station these
days?
We should each have enough ethical pride in ourselves, our call signs,
and our reputations to avoid being lids, especially obnoxious contest lids.
So who's to pull the throttles back on these lids? Peer pressure could
do it. (First, you grab the guy's peer to get his attention, then you apply
firm pressure....)
Perhaps contest rules should specify that a certain number of
complaints about a contestant would result in an automatic five-year
disqualification, with no appeal. Now wouldn't that be interesting?! You
could write contest sponsors and suggest that.
I have recently inherited the call sign of a fine old gentleman, now a
Silent Key, who obtained that call sign six years before I was born. I
promise you that every time I put W1AB on the air, my station will be
operated in a gentlemanly manner, that it will follow ethical procedures and
all radio and contest rules. Just as I always did with K3KMO, and W4UWA
before that, and with DL4WA, DJ0HZ, LX3TA, M1M, and K3KMO/TI2.
It's easy to sign the statement at the bottom of the entry form, snug
and alone in the semi-darkness of one's own home, saying that you followed
all the rules, etc ("Heh heh...heh heh..."--Butt Head), and knowing that
only one person might read it but probably won't. It would be something
else to make that claim here in the bright light of the reflector, for all
to read and for righteous indignation to be expressed if untruthfulness is
detected.
Now let's hear from the Real Contesters and Big-Time Ops of today as
they line up and promise gentlemanly operating---right here on this
reflector, for all to see. Who'll be next?
If anybody present catches a contester grandstanding and lying about
his gentlemanliness, let it be discussed right here on the reflector, no
holds barred, and with call signs named. That is one way we could start
pulling back in the direction of gentlemanly operation that was far more
common 30 years ago. WE can do it via peer pressure (see above). The usual
grousing, complaining, and bitching won't help. It hasn't yet.
I will stand by for the enormous influx of e-mail soon to come. And I
will be curious to see who is willing to make a similar statement of
gentlemanly intent.
73, Al
"Let sleeping dogs lie, and lying dogs sleep, and never the twain shall
meet."---Unknown
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