[CQ-Contest] The Difference Between Rules and Ethics

[Silver Ward]

I think the discussion of spotting, self-spotting, and pre-contest marketing
efforts is a very good one to have in a public forum such as CQ-Contest.
This is an excellent use of the medium.  Even if there is no consensus
reached, all of us will have at least considered the question and that
raises everyone's consciousness on the subject.

No one has suggested that K9PG/ZF2MM committed an infraction during the
contest.  (Read ARRL contest rule 3.1.4 for the specifics of what is
prohibited.)  What we are talking about - and is certainly a legitimate
topic - is contesting ethics of the single-operator genre.  The addition of
packet and Internet technology sweeps away old assumptions about what tools
were and were not available to an individual before and during a contest.
Remember the old days when all we had to worry about were the infamous
long-distance phone calls?

Boiling the pre-contest issue down, it is unethical to encourage a specific
group to perform acts on behalf of or render assistance to a specific
station using methods that would not also be available to other competitors.

The concern is not really about the simple act of spotting a club member,
per se, but the support-your-buddy thing, which, must be admitted, could
really get out of hand IF somebody really intended to push that aspect of
it.  In organizing the WRTC we worried about that A LOT and it frequently
happens.  In WRTC-1990 logs there were clearly "pass the microphone"
incidents.  The potential for serious abuse is why I think this issue got
the attention of "senior contesters".  K9PG's own log stats show that he
didn't really get much from the marketing effort.  However, I'm sure that
with the clever and inventive souls inhabiting the ranks of radiosport
contesters, the techniques could be refined to confer a much greater
advantage if there is not some kind of peer pressure today that it might be
a Bad Thing.

There are many other activities that tread into the grey area.  Along with
exhortations to spot early and often (sorry, couldn't resist the Chicago
cliche...) what of special awards, certificates, promises of fancy QSLs, and
other things that increase the desirability of QSOs with one station and not
another in ways that have nothing to do with the competition?  Some are
probably OK and others not so OK.

We have to ask ourselves if that great new idea enables us to perform more
effectively or does it deny another competitor a legitimate opportunity to
do so?  These are hard questions.

73, Ward N0AX