When I operated the (entire) SS with the 'bogus' check, I really didn't
think about whether it would be an advantage or a disadvantage. I thought it
would be a morally and contest-ually (sic) neutral decision. Did I break the
rules? Yes. But gaining a competitive edge wasn't one of the reasons I had
for changing my check. I just wanted to program my memory keyer with a
different number.
Somebody said that, primarily because of all of the master databases in use,
that doing so could actually have been detrimental due to the higher
potential for error on the part of the station 'copying' my exchange.
However, Leigh has turned the discussion toward the possibility of it being
an *advantage*, presumably because of my specifically using the check '55'
as the example. Leigh, please correct me if I am mis-reading your
statements.
If Leigh is saying what I think he's saying, and if we are going to stick
with a strict interpretation of the SS rules regarding the check then some
of us have built-in advantages that *can't be overcome by the others*. That
is, if you are one of the lucky 55ers, you will always have the advantage
over, say, a 91er. Interesting, huh?
There was no doubt in my mind when I did it that I was in violation of the
*letter* of the law. That's why I referred to the spirit of the law in my
original post. Perhaps the only regret I had was that I skewed the
statistics of those who like to glean information from all of the checks.
Yet, (as somebody has already pointed out) if I use my club call with its
check of '97', that certainly isn't indicative of my real age in the hobby.
That in itself is a skewing of the statistics, isn't it?
Because of the balanced arguments on both sides of this issue, I believe
that without thinking too much about it, the decision I made really was
close to neutral.
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