abomination n
1. an object of intense disapproval or dislike
2. something that is immoral, disgusting, or shameful
Hi guys, whew! I don't think ANY of the VHF contest rules are
"abominations"! That's a pretty darn strong word! BUT,... I had been
thinking about the "2304 and above - work your own guys" rule, too, when we
started talking about "manufactured qso's". These QSO's are certainly more
manufactured than say, qso's with so called "captive rovers" at a distance
of 300 or 400 miles! But then I remembered one year clip leading together my
2304 portable rig at K1WHS to "give the station a point" (or 3 or whatever
it was). After working K1WHS, I turned the antenna toward the SW and heard
the "dreaded competition", W2SZ calling CQ so I called and worked them at a
distance of 80 miles or whatever it is. I guess the second qso wasn't
manufactured but the first one was... But wait, how could that be???? Yeah,
I know this is different than a bunch of guys sitting around with
motion-detector gunnplexers all working the "home station", but still, lots
of REAL qso's have been made over LONG distances with these things. WHY is
this not OK? And I agree we're blowing this thing pretty far out of
proportion. The truth is a lot of the rules were designed to do something
that is, while not necessarily important for the CONTEST, important for ham
radio in general. That is increasing activity, especially on the higher
frequency bands that we are always in danger of losing to the commercial
interests!
As far as the contests not "surviving". They certainly are surviving.
Activity may or may not be down. I don't think we've determined that yet.
What i do know is there has been a lot of good dialog here. SOME FOLKS must
be interested in the contests!! So I am happy!
bill K1DY FN54jq Maine
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