Bob,
I hope that I wasn't insulting because I didn't intend to be. I am retired
now, but in my past life I was the principal of a large high school. I spent
years trying to figure out what laws and school board policies mean. I find
it interesting that a simple statement in a rule or law can mean one thing
to one person and another to someone else. People often interpret things
based on what they want them to say, not what they actually say. This is
clearly the case in our present discussion.
I understand that someone at the ARRL has interpreted this rule. I
understand that you and many others feel that the rule is ridiculous and is
not checked anyway. I understand that I am in the minority on this issue. I
understand that your score will not be affected regardless of your selection
of this number. So your question, "What difference does it make," is a good
one.
But Bob, the rules says very clearly that the CK should be the last two
digits of the first year the person is licensed. (I realize that there is
some room for question in multi operator and guest operated stations.) The
fact that someone at the ARRL or anywhere else says that it doesn't really
say, or mean what it says is irrelevant. Similarly, my opinion is irrelevant
too. What is relevant is the rule and the rule is very clear.
Ignoring this rule puts all of us in the position of determining which rules
we think are important. There are many on this reflector that think that
everyone uses packet but fail to report it, should we ignore that rule? We
have many that think that the limit on running power is silly; can I make
the decision to run 400 watts in the low power category? Neither of these
will probably ever be caught, does that make it OK. People have demonstrated
that these two issues make little difference in the final outcome.
I served on the Contest Advisory Committee back in the 70s. (About the time
you were WA2OVE, and I was K5TSR.) I am sure that it would take a small
effort to strike or modify this sentence in the rules. There are members of
the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee that frequent this reflector. If the
ARRL wants this particular issue fixed then they should do so. Until then, I
will follow the rule as written.
We should follow the rule or change it. I have no problem with a rule change
that allows us to choose our check, or eliminating it altogether. By the
way, are the rest of the items that we send in the exchange "optional?"
Bill W5VX
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Robert Naumann
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 10:12 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Contest Rules - was Check numbers again
Bill,
Your reply has failed to answer my question.
I'll rephrase it: Please tell me what difference it makes to anyone whether
or not this specific rule is enforced?
The league has said that they don't care - so why should anyone else?
This is not to say that all rules should be broken without regard - we're
just talking about this one little rule.
73,
Bob W5OV
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