OK, we went thru this a few years ago with the spotting of club members, it
was boring then, & is boring now. But, after thinking a bit, here are real
problems that we need to deal with before we get our underdrawers all bunched
up
about spotting a friend:
Enemy #1: The unassisted op who has the cluster running in the background.
Can this be enforced? Not really. It can be exposed however, maybe bringing
shame on the offender. This is a threat to us who play by the rules, in a big
way.
enemy #2: The QRP op running 50 or 100 w, or the low power guy running high
power, or the high power guy running his 2-hole Henry wide open. What do we do
about this? If I'm low power, I'll get eaten alive by a cheater running
higher power, assuming we have the same basic antenna system & locations.
enemy #3: Rubber clocking, especially when you have a contest like NAQP or SS
that you have to take time off. Listening is operating. Period. No tuning the
bands for mults while you are "off"
enemy #4: Self spotters. Hats off to K1TTT & his work. But, really, how much
does this affect the score? I have been unassisted most of my contesting life,
up until 3 or 4 years ago. I notice VERY little improvement on my scores by
using packet. Sure, a couple mults here & there, but, I would have worked most
by old-fashioned tuning. It does however, bring the mult total up quicker!
Take a peek at these & think which hurts us most. Then, take time to think
about how much it helps a guy if his club spots him numerous times in a
contest.
Probably not too mush, as most who are over-spotted are loud & working
everyone anyway. Instead of belly aching about so-and-so spotting his fellow
club
member so-many-times, think about how to stop the "real" cheaters listed above.
This crap about packet is getting old, there is no way to regulate it, & we
may as well make it legal for all classes to use, it isn't going away guys!
73-Chuck KI9A
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