Howdy all, Here's my thoughts on the subject - If a Multi-Op station wants to
"Sponsor a Rover" by providing them with assistance - Extra bands / rigs /
antennas, and that rover goes out and covers lots of grids and makes a lot of
contacts, GREAT! If the Rover station ONLY works the Multi-Op station and few
or no others, BAD. I believe that stipulating in the rules that "Captive
Rovers" are subject to disqualification or having the QSOs removed from the
logs would be sufficient deterrent. This would be pretty easy to spot - Rover
log has only one station worked from many different grids. Even if the Rover
did not submit their logs, with Robots we could easily reverse-engineer their
log from all of the other logs submitted. I'm sure this rule was implemented
some time ago because of a specific exploit or loophole in the rules. I
believe having a stipulation in the rules is sufficient to prevent this from
happening again, while helping encourage activity on the band. I am one who
purchased an Icom 706MkIIg (ABD) and decided to give Rovering a try
(Restrictive covenents prevent big station at home). I've rovered in South
Texas a few times now, and have met many nice folks on the band, some of who
have offered to loan me equipment for contests. In addition, I've been slowly
working on improving the equipment I own, and adding new equipment for my Rover
efforts. Personally, I would love to add some new bands to my rover operation -
it would help me increase my score and provide additional bands for the
stations I do work. Unfortunately, I'm not hugely rich and can't always afford
(in both time and money) to assemble an awesome Rover station. I'm slowly
working on it, but Hams helping other Hams is part of what it's all about. In
addition, this would not mean I would ignore all other stations simply so I
could provide all my contacts to one station. This would not be in the spirit
of the contest. I think anything we could do to encourage more Rover activity
would be a great help. 73,Scott - KI5DR
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