This probably should be something for the contest committee to address.
Due to politics and technology, contesting is changing. This is inevitable.
Nevertheless, there are more fundamental questions involved, which strike at
the heart of amateur radio and contesting.
Namely:
1) Must an operator have to contend with the same physical and legal conditions
of the location that he represents that he is located? It probably is
physically possible to set up a remote station on CY9/0 right now. Usually,
these locations take considerable effort, risk, time, and expense to activate.
This is why they are rare. But using such a remote station in a contest would
mean that the presence of SOME person was on that island at one time is enough
to allow any operator to ?contest? from such an location.
When an operator is physically present in a location, he must contend with
site-specific challenges. For example, they must 1) secure visas and travel to
that location; 2) acclimate him/herself to the local cuisine; and 3) remain
safe. The harder it is to do these things, the more rare the mult. Remote
contesting will drastically change the equation. Not only can operators
?instantly? travel to places that take a long time to travel to, but they can
be assured that their ?support? network of family and local business can supply
them with provisions. Also, operators would not longer have to account for
possible physical or political upheavals. If things get bad, they can just
shut down their internet connection.
Maybe a good analogy is the furor, some time ago, surrounding
internet-controlled sport hunting. As I understand it, many hunters thought it
was bad sportsmanship to have condemned animals released into a controlled area
and shot by a gun that was positioned and "fired" by remote-control from
anywhere in the world.
2) Maybe the 500-meter rule does inhibit some technological advancements. For
example, a contester with two non-contiguous pieces of property (perhaps on
opposite sides of a mountain or river within the same multiplier) might want to
have a remote internet-connected receiver that provides a constant audio stream
to the main shack. This probably does not drastically alter the spirit of
contesting in any major way, and should be viewed in the same way that wireless
ethernet or wireless keyboards might be.
73,
Dave/KA1NCN
Dave@KA1N.CN
.
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