I guess that "home/guest" is another one of those areas
that can't be defined to everyone's satisfaction. To me it
seems pretty obvious what a "home" station is -- a station
primarily built and paid for by the operator/owner. I now
see that there are other interpretations of what constitutes
a home station.
I still do feel strongly about assistance from another contester
DURING the contest in a serious single op attempt. I think that's
a lot easier to define. I know that if someone had been here to
help me during SS, it would have been worth at least 50 QSOs. Even
if all they did was tell me what they saw happening up on the tower.
It would have helped me keep a cooler head, at the very least.
And if they scurried up and fixed the feedline for me, well...
Anyway, it's clear that the top ten will continue to be
dominated with "@" signs, and I accept that. K5RC's post
was a validation that I'm not the only one who questions the
plight of the owner/operator competitor. I mean after all,
since they've dropped the line scores, we second-tier ops have
to find some creative new way to get our egos brushed. The
bottom line is that contesting is not and never will be fair,
and complaining about it surely won't help my scores.
-Kirk K4RO
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