Ron, I will let Ray speak for himself on this. I did reach out to him prior to
this posting.
I don't think the "look at me having fun generates an advantage". However I do
feel the - I wonder what I sound like vs the other guys - or - I just want to
show everyone how loud I am - does.
And it is clearly a separate active channel of advertisement that no one else
is using.
Raising awareness should be commended. But merging that PR activity, as good
for the hobby and well intended as it is, should not be collocated with fair
and even playing field competition.
Ed N1UR
________________________________________
From: Ron Notarius W3WN [wn3vaw@verizon.net]
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 3:12 PM
To: Edward Sawyer; cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Merging Social Media and Contesting
Ed,
You raise an interesting point. But the question in my mind is, is this
ACTUALLY an unfair advantage, or is merely the PERCEPTION of one.
Perception is not necessarily reality, cliché's not withstanding.
Considering that this was not an isolated (ie "for the contest only") incident,
but is part of an ongoing effort to (amongst other things) raise awareness of
Amateur Radio in general and Contesting/RadioSport in particular -- and in a
positive way -- I'm not so sure about how "unfair" an advantage it is. Further
considering that the operating frequency was NOT part of the video feed is, to
me, also a factor. It's one thing to say "Look! Here I Am! Work ME!"; it's
another thing to say "Look! See what I'm doing! Isn't this fun!?" It would
appear, on reflection, that this case may tend significantly more to the later
than the former -- based on the information available, of course.
What does W2RE have to say about this? I'm sure Ray must have some insights
into the "before and after" effects and consequences, both anticipated and
unexpected.
I'm not saying that your conclusion is incorrect. You may be, if not entirely
correct, down the right path. But with so little information to go on, let's
not jump to a hasty (and ultimately incorrect) conclusion based on this small
sample size.
73, ron w3wn
-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Sawyer <EdwardS@sbelectronics.com>
To: cq-contest@contesting.com <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Wed, Mar 11, 2020 10:30 am
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Merging Social Media and Contesting
Some of you may not be aware of an interesting and different even that happened
last weekend.
W2RE of well known RHR fame, decided to not only provide live streaming of his
contesting effort, but tied it into the activity he has been doing since early
January which is fully integrating the on air DX activity into Facebook and
youtube channel streaming. Ray has done a wonderful job of integrating social
media with HF on air activity as part of promoting RHR and DXing in general.
You cant argue that this benefits the hobby in general.
However, the rules of the contest state that "contacts cannot be solicited by
non-amateur means". Examples are typically given but those examples are not
exhaustive. The intent of the rule, I believe, is that you should have people
calling you by the normal discovery process that all of us use. Not a special
method no one else is using.
Ray, to his credit, was not showing his transmit frequency ion the video. And
I personally believe there was no intention of using this additional channel to
gain an advantage. At all. However, if you look at the activity generated on
the facebook page - a couple of million hits since early January (bravo Ray) -
its hard for me to rationalize that there is not a direct pick up of Qs based
on this parallel activity. Casuals, which are a huge part of running up the Q
totals in any major DX contest, may be listening to the channel and say, I
wonder how loud I am verses these other guys Ray is working. And look up on
the cluster to find Ray's frequency and give a call to hear themselves. That
is exactly "soliciting a contact by non-amateur means". Not overtly - like
give me a call if you are watching - but by "advertising" and letting the rest
happen on its own.
I think it is a wonderful idea on its own. But it does not compete fairly with
those just playing the game by the rules as intended.
CQ WW used to have an unlimited class, maybe they still do. Maybe we need an
unlimited class to promote this "multi channel" contesting. But mixing it up
with normal contesting just doesn't feel right to me.
What do others think?
Ed N1UR
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