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Re: [CQ-Contest] Field Day & CW & 15 minute rule

To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Field Day & CW & 15 minute rule
From: "David A. Pruett" <k8cc@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 23:15:22 -0400
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
At 01:12 AM 6/29/04 +0100, Roger Parsons wrote:
I too wonder about the purpose of the 15 minute rule,
and am quite sure it discourages use of 160, 10 and
even 15 in this contest.

The reason this rule was implemented was to outlaw the use of an "octopus" or similar switching setup on Field Day. For those not familiar with the term, an octopus was essentially a switching setup which allowed multiple radios, operating on multiple bands, to be interlocked in such a way as only one transmitter at a time could actually transmit, thus allowing the entry to be in a "one transmitter" category. (The analogy is one transmitter per tentacle.) So yeah, you could make QSOs on 160, 15, 10, and many other bands one at a time but still be "1A".


Don't be skeptical - this was actually done on at least one occasion and the ARRL decided (correctly, IMHO) that such a setup was counter-productive to the spirit of FD and created the dreaded "fifteen minute rule" to preclude it's use.

Dave/K8CC


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