Recently there was a post by someone griping about the IOTA contest rules.
This year I was an "expedition" station on Swans Island, Maine, and I'd like
to offer my feeling on a couple of the points.
For the IOTA contest, the rules have a definition of an "expedition" class
station, wherein you cannot be a resident, cannot use a resident's station,
and cannot simply drive across a causeway or bridge onto the island. With
this definition, YOU have to figure out beforehand what it is you are taking
onto the island with you. YOU will not be able to conveniently get off the
island to drive to a local ham store or Home Depot for what you forgot. If
YOU have a problem, YOU fix it with what YOU brought or can scrounge. Sounds
like an expedition to me. In my case, I found I had failed to bring coffee
pot filters, EZNEC4 reported an installation problem on my laptop so I had
to use (horrors!) basic math and intuition to construct the 20M dipole, then
the power went out for 6 hours, the laptop reported a hard drive failure,
the cellphone stopped talking to the cell network, and my wife got sick.
But we got through it all and had a blast the week we were there on this
gorgeous hunk of Maine coastline.
Furthermore, if you don't meet the above expedition definition, but are on a
regulation island, you can still operate the contest as an island station,
and so still have the advantage of being a "multiplier" in this contest:
Others will seek you, you will enjoy being spotted on packet, and your entry
will distinguish you as having operated as an island station. Others will
thank you. Why ask for a scoring advantage as well??
Bottom line, the rules seem reasonable to me. I am primarily in it for the
fun and the satisfaction of having done it.
Chet, N8RA
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