[CQ-Contest] Etiquette

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

My club sponsors a local 2M FM contest every January.  We're starting to
work on the updated rules for the 2003 event.  I'd like to solicit some of
the more experienced ops here on the list for suggestions or advice... if
you're not interested, my apologies for the bandwith & no need to read
further.

A problem we ran into last year was that of, for lack of better terms, rude
or marginally ethical behavior from a few stations; most where newcomers or
non-contesters who didn't know better, and a few of the "damn the rules, win
at all costs" school.  As a result of this, we're thinking of doing two
things:

(a)  Add a rule to the effect that will permit disqualification for improper
behavior
(b)  Add to the rules a one-sheet addendum detailing what we consider "good
amateur practice."

The biggest problems last year were two-fold.

First, we had many situations were someone would call "CQ Contest" for
several minutes, finally get a call, work the "new" one -- and then get his
frequency clobbered by 10-12 stations who had simply been listening and then
jumped once the contact was made.  This scared off some of the "new" ones
who didn't know what was going on or how to handle a pile-up, and ticked off
the station calling CQ because "his" frequency was absconded.  (In the early
hour of the contest -- it runs 4 hours -- you'd hear someone politely asking
to call, and that worked out well.  In the last hour, politeness went out
the window as some got very ruthless about trying to "win").

Second, we had a situation with one club station who thought nothing of
calling "CQ" right on top of anyone -- be it a contact in progress, or
someone else calling CQ, or in one case a scheduled net (that we didn't know
about) trying to conduct themselves.  This station was also reported to be
trying to work stations on 146.52 & below simplex frequencies, which we had
explicitly declared as a "no contest" area for those trying to operate
outside the contest.  One of the ops did not take kindly to "suggestions"
from the contest committee to knock it off, which led to some interesting
situations -- it's actually kind of funny to hear someone tell the guy who
conceived the contest & wrote most of the rules that he didn't know what he
was talking about!  Sad, but funny.

Regardless, we're figuring that an "etiquette" page of "good amateur
practice" adapted for 2M FM Simplex will be a big help for those who simply
didn't know better and were just doing what they heard on the air.  And,
unfortunately, since we didn't have a "DQ" rule in place, we now see that we
need one to curb those that get out of hand.

Any suggestions welcome.  And thanks!

73, ron wn3vaw

"And they give you cash,
which is just as good as money!"
Yogi Berra, AFLAC Commercial, 2002