Now that the dust has finally settled on two rather contentious contesting
issues, it's time to get serious and institute some new rules that would apply
to all contests. These new rules are way past due and need to be implemented
immediately. Contest organizers take note!
Rule #1: US operators may not speak with a foreign accent. Many, many people
have told me this is a serious problem, especially after listening to a station
on a run who is not IDing (more on that later), and five minutes later finally
discovering the station is in New York or California. You know who you are!
Failure to comply results in DQ.
Rule #2: All stations operating from US possessions, territories, etc. outside
the continental 48 states, must place a suffix on their call with the prefix
identification that they used to have before the FCC messed everything up. It's
hard enough to figure out where all these stations are calling from. I might
add that many, many people have told me this is a serious issue.
Rule #3: Stations running on a frequency must ID after a maximum of 30
contacts. Ignoring a request for call sign counts as 10 contacts. Sending
"Test" without receiving a reply counts as 10 contacts. Sending
"Test.....pause.....Test.....pause.....Test" counts as 30 contacts. The
station must then ID on it's next transmission. Failure to comply results in
DQ. Stations that finally ID by giving their call sign twice, but using two
different sets of phonetics, will be given a warning after the first occurrence.
DQ after the second occurrence.
Rule #4: DX operators speaking in excess of 20,000 words per minute will be
given a warning to slow down to a level that can be deciphered by a normal human
being. Failure to comply after the second warning will result in
disqualification if the station can be identified.
Rule #5: Stations running output power that exceeds their country's legal
limits will be DQed. Contest organizers will be responsible for monitoring the
bands with a new test instrument that integrates several technologies. The very
inexpensive device is called a Power Observation Wattmeter (POW). Utilizing
measurements of propagation's K factor in conjunction with the MUF, the
instrument is tuned 500Hz above the transmitted signal's base frequency
deviation. This data is then coupled to a measurement of the distance between
sending and receiving locations using a calculated rhumb line plot based on
magnetic deviation from true North. The transmitting station's output power is
displayed on the POW's digitized readout. All the contest organizers then have
to do is DQ a dozen or so stations. Even if a DQed station swears he is only
running QRP, tough. Once the word gets around, the problem will disappear.
Rule #6: Use of packet spotting, clusters, any skulldugerous use of the
internet to find new multipliers, etc. is banned for all operations, regardless
of class. A new automated device for monitoring violations of this policy, the
Knocking Erroneous Retransmissions (KER) unit, will be employed by contest
organizers. This device scans all possible sources used for spotting. It then
posts a spot giving the call sign of an extremely rare DX station. A note is
added, stating that, for various reasons, the DX station is not calling CQ, but
is listening on a particular frequency for any callers. The KER then monitors
the frequency for anyone calling. All callers are DQed.
Implementing these rules and use of the KER and POW instruments will make
contesting much more enjoyable. I urgently seek your support by asking everyone
to contact contest organizers worldwide.
73, Bob W7BJ
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