IMHO, there are three related issues here, all of which have been used on the
corpse of the poor deceased horse at one time or another for years.
Issue 1: Eligibility of Remote Controlled Station(s) in the Contest.
IMHO, so long as the operation adheres to the rules of the contest at hand,
there ought to be no issue regarding a RC station when the operator is located
elsewhere. In short, if it's not prohibited, it's allowed.
Should you disagree that this type of operation ought to be permitted... and
frankly, from a technical standpoint, if someone can make the remote station
work with all of the related issues, more power to them... this is an issue to
take up with the particular contest organizers. Which is not to say that
opinions from others should or should not be sought out here & other places as
well.
Issue 2: Eligibility of Remote Controlled Station(s) for DXCC Purposes
I think this one's been settled for quite some time. Under current DXCC rules,
if the operator of the remote controlled station is not located within the
boundaries of the same DXCC entity that the station is located in, the station
does not count for DXCC purposes under either entity.
The last time that this was discussed, I recall getting a pretty firm
declaration from someone (not Bill Moore though) at ARRL stating as such.
Again, if you disagree, make your case to the DXCC desk and/or your rep on the
DXCC Advisory Committee (DXAC).
Issue 3: Morality or Ethics of the Remote Controlled Station(s) in the Contest
This may be the real issue at hand with Paul and several others. WHY is the
remote station being used?
Is it a case of an operator who (for any of a number of legitimate reasons) can
not operate, or operate effectively, from their home? (Examples would include
someone on a business trip, someone living in an area where they are severely
limited in antennas, someone in the military... and plenty more, you get the
idea)
Or is it a case of an operator who simply chooses, out of convenience, to not
travel to the contest station?
Or is it a case of a remote station that the operator borrows, the so-called
rent-a-shack? But instead of travelling to a tropical or vacation setting, they
just rent the equipment & operate it remotely?
And there are many other scenarios one can paint.
The real question is... the real why... is the ultimate purpose less than
ethical?
[What's ethical, you ask? Now that's a darn good question, and I'll answer that
one as soon as I compute how many Angels can dance on the head of a pin, which
depends on the size of the pin, and whether or not we use the 25 active players
on the LA Angels roster, or the entire 40 man roster as a starting point, to
say nothing of the minor leaguers in their system]
Lacking a better definition or working theory, at present, I'd say that if the
purpose of the operator is to simply operate the remote station, and ONLY the
remote station (that is to say, he or she is not also a member of a multi-op
team at another site, or is running part of the contest under the "home" call
and part under the "remote" call, or other oddball situations like that), and
is willing to put up with all of the technical glitches that could occur with a
remote station, I don't have a problem.
Now if the intention is to, for lack of a better term (and I'm not saying that
this is the case with OH2UA or anyone else, just in general) is to do something
that is contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the contest rules...
well, I'm not saying it would necessarily be wrong, but I would want to look
into it. Which doesn't sound very specific, but this happens when you start
getting into the gray areas, or start breaking new grounds.
So rather than berate Paul or anyone else for taking a stand contrary to the
practice of a remote station... maybe it's time for a constructive conversation
to decide under what circumstances a remote station should be permitted to
operate & compete in the events.
Because it's one thing is someone wants to "win" by running a remote station
from a rare entity. It's quite another thing if someone is using technology to
operate when they couldn't otherwise. And there's quite a bit of territory in
between.
So where do you draw the line? Or do you draw one?
THAT is the issue. IMHO. YMMV.
73, ron w3wn
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|