The request for this "COVID-19 one-year variance" for the ARRL sponsored
contests originated from a group of EU contesters and through the Radiosport department
at ARRL HQ. It then went on to the Board's Programs and Services Committee, which
approved the temporary change in a meeting held this Wednesday. While noting that the CQ
committee has not made any allowances for COVID in their test rules, the motion passed
and here we are.
The rationale: Not every club station in the world has the ability to operate with a
bunch of remote operators, the guys in Maine aside! This gives some of the EU club
stations the chance to get on the air under their "normal" club callsign,
despite the pandemic, and be part of a MM team.
I am somewhat prejudiced here, which is why I supported it. I'm one of the
believers that radiosport is best when it's done as part of a team effort,
especially if you can get some new hams involved as part of the team. (You did
read the article in the latest NCJ didn't you?) ;-)
This is actually similar to what the ARRL did as an allowance for FD this year.
There were hams that hated the idea of what we did then, and some that loved
it. In any case, overall participation in that event was up over last year,
despite the pandemic, and in my books that's a good thing. I'm sure there are
critics over this decision also, but so be it. You run with whatever the
contest rules are at a particular time, they are subject to change.
If you want to run MM in the ARRL DX CW test with 15 ops crammed into a single room, have
at it. Nothing is going to stop you from still doing that. If you have 15 ops all
remoting in from homes all over the globe to a multi-band 5X5X5 stacked array located in
Jonesport, Maine, you can still do that too. This provides a third option "for the
time being". Whatever floats YOUR boat.
"Who will enforce this rule?" You guys will. Will somebody figure out a way to
game the system? Most likely. There's no big prize money here, and the vast majority of
radiosport enthusiasts are honest people. Let's just get on the air, have fun, and get
over this damn virus.
73;
Mike
W7VO
ARRL Director, NW Division
Member, ARRL Programs and Services Committee
(and contester too!)
On 10/23/2020 9:44 AM Chuck Dietz <w5prchuck@gmail.com> wrote:
Yew... I thought they meant the ops would REMOTE each position from their
homes.
On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 11:26 AM Yuri <ve3dz@rigexpert.net> wrote:
Oh yeah!
It's totally in the spirit of today.
If someone can't ride at 40 MPH, let's ban this speed for everybody!
Yuri VE3DZ
On 10/22/2020 11:29 PM, ku8e wrote:
I agree Randy. How in the world would you enforce this rule? If you want
to social distance just don't allow any multi-op's this year.JeffSent from
my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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