[CQ-Contest] Re: Old topic, new wrinkle (not really)

[Kelly Taylor]

I'm with George on this one. First of all, some contests (ARRL specifically)
say that single operator is a station where one operator does all the
operating, logging and equipment and antenna adjustments himself. I do not
believe this rule to prohibit guest ops, merely the activities and who
performs them DURING the contest.

So, for ARRL contests at leasts, that answers the question about getting
help during the contest.

As George has said, guest opping does not make it a piece of cake, either.
You're in unfamiliar surroundings, dealing with unfamiliar cable routings,
antennas, propagation, etc.

Finally, contest operating is not about station design. It's about
operating. It's about when all the antenna work is done and now it's just
you and the machine. If someone can travel to Arecibo and win SS year after
year from someone else's station, all the power to them. If I can't travel
to Arecibo myself, that's not his fault, is it?

Tom says it's not about sour grapes, and I tend to believe that he thinks
that's true. But I also detect perhaps a hint of jealousy in his post.

I think it's time to realize that we win or we don't win not because there
aren't enough categories but simply because we got beat or we didn't. Pure
and simple. Maybe for ultimate fairness we should just make everyone a
category unto themselves. Then everybody wins. Or do they?

73, kelly
ve4xt

----- Original Message -----
From: "George Fremin III - K5TR" <geoiii at kkn.net>
To: "K4RO Kirk Pickering" <k4ro at k4ro.net>
Cc: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 7:03 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Old topic - New Wrinkle


> On Wed, Jan 22, 2003 at 01:35:46AM -0600, K4RO Kirk Pickering wrote:
> > I'm all for it Tom.  Interestingly, a similar discussion
> > just broke out on the TCG reflector.  Specifically, that
> > a serious guest op who has someone help him (e.g. fix an
> > antenna) DURING the contest has a significant advantage over
> > the op who must do it himself.  The advantage is as much mental
> > as technical or physical.  I would have given my eyeteeth to
> > have someone help me when everything broke here during CW SS.
> > But I'm not sure I would have felt like a single op if I did.
> > I also agree that a separate catrgory is unnecessary.  Maybe
> > just a marker, like there used to be for LP & QRP in the Sprints.
> >
>
> mmmmm..... I was what most would describe as a "guest op"
> when I operated from the W5KFT station. Whenever I did a
> single op contest I was the only person there - indeed
> the station owner was 300+ miles away. There was no pit crew.
> But this was also not the station at my house.
>
> There was no one to bring me food or water or anything else.
>
> So I fail to see how you can define this division of catagories
> into anything that makes sense.
>
> --
> George Fremin III - K5TR
> geoiii at kkn.net
> http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr
>
>
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