[CQ-Contest] Time to Get Off the Pot

[Bob Marston]

Ward

  I've been following this matter with a keen interest as events have
unfolded. I have been licensed since 1972 and a contester since 1974. I
have been a Life Member of the ARRL from 1974. I also reside in the ARRL
Division in which you serve as the CAC Rep. I was shocked by the news of
what the Bod was considering action on. But the way some ARRL Staffers and
League Officials chose to deal with this matter once the cat was let out of
the bag left me aghast and incredulous. Were it not for diligance, quick
thinking and prompt action of K4OJ, K1VU and other "Pot Dwellers", K1RO and
W0CP with the unwitting cooperation of the ARRL Board would have pulled off
a fast one last weekend. To them the entire Contest Community owes a debt
of gratitude!  Thank you Jim and Thank you Bob.

  While the matter of publishing line scores in QST is certainly important
the way certain league officials conducted themselves during this process
calls in to question the league's commitment to contesting. Were it not for
the cool heads of a majority of the board members I also would have
questioned its integrity. And in that respect the process worked. Ward from
my view point your post is little more than a defense of these staffers.
And it is apparent to me that you left your objectivity aside when you
wrote it. 

  There are only a handful posts on this matter that have major
significance in this argument, here is my abreviated recap

1) K4OJ and K1VU upon learning of the Bod's agenda post a number of threads
on the subject

2) QST Publisher Mark Wilson, K1RO, responds with his own thread. To
paraphrase him he says "we aren't eliminating contest converage just
changing it around". Well some reports suggest the Mark Wilson's statements
on their face are disingenuious. Those have yet to be substantiated. But it
was clear to me at the outset that this was little more than a "Selling
Job". What was undetermined was the size of the loss to the contest
community if this measure passed. Mr Wilson insults our intelligence with
this ploy. He seems to think we just fell off a turnip truck. You're a real
Company Man Mark

3) After the Bod tabled the motion the Finance Director of the Board, W0CP,
posted his explaination of events along with a veiled threat. The
arroaganced displayed by a sitting board member is beyond belief. In so
many words he states that the process only functions is to validate the
board's decisions therefore we will "tabled this issue, will give it a
hearing and then pass it in July". I liken this to the ole "You will be
given a fair trail after which you will be shot!" Gary Ferdinand, W2CS,
wrote an excellent response I recommend you reread it Ward.

4) Then you decide to don your CAC Badge and post your own message telling
us we are the problem. You are reversing the role of victim and
perpetrater. The Contest Community was minding its own business when
certain individuals in the League took it upon themselves to reverse 50+
years of tradition.

Ward the more I think about what has transpired over the last week the more
the idea of removing line scores from QST becomes secondary. Do you know
why ? Because past events have lead me to conclude that the ARRL is hinting
to us that sponsoring contests is burden that they don't want to deal with
anymore. If such is the case I think the contest community should rally its
troops to relieve the ARRL of this burden once and for all. A few months
ago Bill Fisher needed to raise funds to upgrade hardware here on the
Reflector. Their campaign netted more than the necessary funds before you
could bat an eye. With a little bit of doing we could come up with our own
version of "The Big Project". I would hope that K1IR's group will have the
foresight, energy, resources and courage to think big.


Bob Marston     K1TA


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