I am interested in the ongoing discussions about
activity and rule changes.
Before my story I would like to point out that all of
our opinions are influenced by our experiences. I may
have reached a different conclusion because I have
operated in a region that 'plays' like a different
event.
I have run rover every June since the category was
made official, I have also run in several August,
September and January events. I have run under all
three of the major rule changes that have been made in
the category.
One of the big complaints about rovers is that they
run 'captive'. I have once or twice 'run a corner'
(under both original and current rules). If you want
to see a rover station become unavailable to the radio
public, put them on a corner for a full sixteen
combination circle, both stations are tied up for a
substantial time. It is also VERY boring. It is
profitable but does not, to me, feel like contesting,
it is points manufacture in a way that is not
consistent with the remainder of VHF contesting.
The current rules represent a compromise between
encouraging rovers to go out and work others for "dx"
grids and allowing the manufacture of points around a
corner. The origninal system should produce the
highest scores for a rover yet all four of the current
records in my section were set using the current, less
generous, system.
The limited multi-op and unlimited multi-op statioins
may have a significant affect on activity. There is
no argument that a big statin manned by a team of
efficient operators will produce a big score and work
may stations in many places, but they probably
decrease over all activity. I state this based on my
obervations the year that a group of locals got
together to run an unlimited multi-op station. There
was a new, big, easy to work station that we got in
the log from several grids. This was at a cost of
working the individual operators at home. From 10 or
so stations that could have been worked two or three
times each we went down to one station we could work
eight times. Net change from twenty-odd QSOs in
several grids to eight in one grid (this assumes one
band, it gets a little hairy trying to approxomate the
different bands run by each station quickly. I
suspect the benefit of more smaller stations becomes
greater).
No matter what the rules are currently, we all know
what they are and can plan a strategy accordingly.
Any change will benefit somebody and hurt some one
else.
Russell
VE3OIL/r
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