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[CQ-Contest] The Lesser Gods a/k/a SOAB(A)

To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] The Lesser Gods a/k/a SOAB(A)
From: "Franki ON5ZO" <on5zo@telenet.be>
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:48:18 +0100
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
> Doesn't it make an Assited Category look like "handicapped"?
> Could it be one of the reasons for cheating?

It shouldn't be a reason to cheat because no reason justifies cheating but 
indeed you'd get the impression that "assisted" seems to be equal to 
"lazy-bum-inferior-operator-couldn't-work-a-mult-if-he-called-you" looking 
at the points Yuri VE3DZ summed up. Not just by these points posted only 
yesterday but some die-hard UNassisted operators always seem to let that 
slip through. Not litterally but between the lines. And maybe they're just 
being diplomatic when posting here or in their blogs. At least, that's the 
feeling I've been having since I got involved in contesting in 2001.
Don't ask me to come up with specific statements or quotes because I can't 
give you any - it's just an accumulated feeling I got over the years.

I don't use packet when the rules don't allow (like EUHFC). However I like 
to be assisted when the rules allow and submit as such both on 3830 and to 
the contest sponsor.
I like SOAB(A) because my location and setup don't allow top scores in DX 
contests. Hence my main competitor is... yours truly. I like to improve my 
score and QSO totals - big QSO numbers is what I like. Packet helps me to 
achieve that. Still I sit in my chair 24h, 36/48 or as many hours out of 48 
as my mind and body allow. So am I lazy? I don't think so. Am I a lesser 
oparator? You decide.
It's not that I sat here for 40 hours in CQ WW CW clicking my bandmap +2700 
times hopping from QSO to QSO. You'd see my UBN go bananas then! And I also 
move mults from band to band and if someone asks me to move I do - mult or 
not. Assisted is the same as unassisted, just differently.

We shouldn't forget that:
a) Contesting should be fun no matter how much money, work, blood, sweat 
(and tears?) we put into it. What is there to win by winning? Oh yes, us 
Contester's Ego... I plea guilty on this one.
b) The vast majority of us shouldn't be bothered or punished because of the 
occasional rotten apple in the basket. Find the cheaters, hunt 'm down, DQ 
'm - I think it IS possible with the means available right now and without 
extra measures.
c) That QSO rate that we like to see go sky high is mostly boosted by the 
casual operator doing spot hopping. Ban cluster = cut 50% of our QSO totals? 
Don't forget that when people see 8P, P4, ZD, V4 etc spotted they're eager 
to go and work him/her for DXCC credit. I wish the same was true for ON. 
Don't trust the casual DXer to tune the bands himself.

> Sometimes people would like to enter the contest in old fashoined way - 
> just
> as "a guy and his radio" (boy, I loved this!), but sometimes same people
> would love to use technology, so why the difference in this category is so
> unfair?

Indeed, that's my bottom line: if there actually *ARE* 2 categories why not 
treat them equally? Both in the final score publishing as well as among 
peers?

73 de Franki ON5ZO = OQ5M 

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