[CQ-Contest] Non-contesting 10 meter window

[Henderson, Dan N1ND]

Greetings from Newington all.  Hope you all enjoyed a good contest this
weekend.

There are a couple of things in regards to the non-contest window on 10
Meters for the ARRL 10 Meter contest.  Foremost is the fact that for
Novice/Tech-Plus operators in the US that is their ONLY H.F. Phone band.
If the rest of us don't wish to Contest, we can move to another band,
including the WARC bands. For phone operation, the Novice/Tech-Plus
licensees don't have that luxury; hence a small portion of their band
has been set aside as non-contest window."  This seems reasonable and
fair, and in the spirit of community.

Second has been the discussion about the ARRL 10-Meter Contest rule
change concerning the "Contest Free Zone" because of a change in the
rules in Argentina to permit their Novices to operate in this segment,
as well as higher in the band. The ARRL contest rule change was made
effective with the 1995 contest, before the change was made in
Argentina. The contest rules state "The frequencies from 28.3 through
28.35 MHz are designated as a noncontest window. (This means that
stations may not call CQ contest in this window.)"

If you're participating in the contest, you can't call "CQ Contest"
between 28.3 and 28.35. That's quite clear, but there's no prohibition
against answering someone else's "CQ Contest" in the window. They
shouldn't be soliciting contacts on those frequencies either if they are
planning to enter the contest, but if they are just DXing and are not
planning to send in a log, there's nothing to penalize them for. You
won't incur any penalty or risk by answering them, any more than you
would if you coaxed a ragchewer into giving you a point. On the other
hand, if you are competing don't try to get around the rule by using
"QRZ contest" or something similar instead of "CQ"; this would be in
clear violation of the intent of the rule and you would  be risking
disqualification from the contest.

Happy Holidays and 73,


Dan Henderson, N1ND
Contest Branch Manager, ARRL

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