I'm fairly new to this list, and have been trying to figure out the
specifics of this debate in particular. As I have a free moment, I'd
ask for some clarifications of the below. Let me know if I'm reading
this right or not:
> A "captive rover" generally describes a rover whose activity in the contest
> is exclusively intended to benefit a particular fixed station.
You, of course, have absolute and certain proof that their activity is
INTENDED to be of exclusive benefit to a particular station. Please
provide it?
>The rover
> may be using equipment partially or entirely supplied by the fixed station,
So, it's a BAD thing for a fixed station, which I assume by the bottom
comment about M/U's, has a fair bit of funding and manpower available,
to provide equipment to amateur operators who might not have the
funds/means to put together their own rover outfits? Isn't being
helpful/friendly towards one's fellow HAM part of being a HAM in the
first place?
> is on a schedule to be at certain locations at certain times to make QSOs
> on certain bands,
Don't most rovers in the contests make and attempt to keep a
reasonable schedule, rather than just driving about randomly?
> and is expected to make contacts with other stations if
> and only if it has time between making contacts with the mother ship it is
> intended to help.
Again, I would ask for the undeniable proof here. It seems to be a
pretty assumptiony piece of prose.
> The equipment the captive rovers use might be very low
> power - capable of making contact with the mother ship but not much further -
Two questions about this. Are you saying that if one is unable
to/unwilling to invest in high power amplifiers, antennae, etc. that
that one should not be allowed into a contest as a rover? Second,
it's been a while since I looked at a tech manual, but wasn't there a
bit about always using the minimal power required to make a contact?
Maybe it was just a courtosy bit I picked up somewhere, but my
understanding was that it's impolite to drown others out with your own
conversation...
> or operate on frequencies (such as 908 MHz) that nobody else uses, which
> further impedes their capability to make QSOs with other stations.
So, you're saying that rovers, or any other operator, should restrict
themselves to only using popular frequencies? Doesn't this go against
the whole 'use it or lose it' philosophy, let alone the concept of
expanding activity, inventing new devices to speak on underused bands,
etc? I thought amateur radio was about developing new horizons, not
shrinking from them...
>
> The combined efforts of these captive rovers are clearly not in the spirit of
> fair competition against other fixed stations, and a lot of us feel it should
> be banned as cheating. So far, it has only poisoned the M/U class.
Here, I can only ask, who first came up with the idea that this was
cheating, and the term captive rover? The term honestly brings to
mind a poor sap behind a steering wheel, chained to his car seat, with
the radio equivalent of a beer helmet on his head, talking on one
radio strapped to it while listening to the other, dodging traffic and
trees, and just trying to make his hundred or so QSOs with the mother
ship before the remote detonater is activated, eliminating him from
the contest...
However, the rover you've described seems to me to just be a good HAM,
perhaps inexperienced/underfunded, trying to have a bit of fun. I
mean, seriously, underpowered equipment, underused bands... doesn't
that sound like someone at the forefront of the amateur world, trying
to bolster activity? Shouldn't the fixed stations take this as a
challenge to be met, to expand their capabilities and talk with these
limited but perky rovers, rather than squashing their motivations?
But, to be fair, I AM biased here. I've roved with a friend before,
and sat disappointed with him while our homebrew equipment based pleas
for "CQ Contest" were ignored by the high power stations around us
that just couldn't bother to tune us in. As such, I find it to be
rather high and mighty of the powerful fixed stations/operators to
condemn the little guys driving around in their 2-door minis just
trying to have a little fun, just because they can't afford better
equipment, or can only hear a few stations.
I was brought into this hobby 5 years ago mostly because I was told
you got to mess around with things that kinda worked, and build new
stuff, and talk on these 'frequency' things that normal people didn't
use, and all that whatnot. Now, it seems, these are all bad things to
do. Ah well, it's not like I get out of the lab much anymore anyways,
so what do I care?
...apologies to the list for the long post, but it was a long day, and
I've been very curious about where these ideas came from for a while
now. Perhaps someone can clear up my confusions, or at least tell me
how it's even remotely a bad thing to use the equipment available to
you, and do what you can with it.
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|