Someone suggested the "listening time counts as operating time" rule was
foolish and should be stricken. Here's why I disagree.
If you accept that SS requires ops to only work 24 out of the 30 hours, then
the listening time counts as operating time rule is paramount. Here's why:
the rule was designed to prevent folk from declaring an off time and then
sitting at their radio (OK, radios) anyway to "cherry pick" their time to
jump in.
You have to declare an off time and then leave the radio. If you picked
well, it works. If you picked poorly, it doesn't.
It would be a great advantage to be able to sit at the radio on Sunday
morning and wait for conditions to improve to declare an 'on' time, but that
defeats the purpose of introducing an element of strategy. If you get on too
early Sunday and dog it for three hours and then have to shut down in the
middle of a hot run at 6 or 7 p.m. because your time has run out, you've
learned an important lesson for next year. (Made that mistake at WB0O in
1997).
If you could sit at the radio for those three hours without declaring an
'on' time until things were hot, what would be the point in having an
element of strategy in the rules?
73, kelly
ve4xt
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