[CQ-Contest] Self Spotting

[Alan C. Zack]

I agree with Ron.  Another thing to consider is when a person who is
restricted at home due to no antenna, CC&R's, etc, puts in a lot of
his personal time to keep a club station running, and pays dues to be
a member of such a club, should not be able to use said club station. 
It is nice to own a few acres of land and be able to put up a big
antenna farm, it is another thing to be stuck in a city apartment or
condo with no antenna and be thankful for the use of a club station
from time to time.
73

Ron Notarius WN3VAW wrote:
> 
> Yuri,
> 
> That's a rather harsh sentiment.  There are many skilled or semi-skilled
> contesters who for one of any number of reasons is borrowing or "renting" a
> shack; for example:
> -- Some of us are temporarily without a permanent shack because we are
> renting or are in an antenna restricted area
> -- Some are in college or otherwise away from school, and unable to access
> the local club station (if any)
> -- Some are on vacation, or away on business, or on a temporary relocation
> away from home during a particular contest and wish to operate regardless
> -- Some wish to try a new location (such as East vs. Midwest vs. South vs.
> West Coast, to say nothing of a different DX entity) for a change of pace
> -- Some have a sibling, parent, child, spouse or Significant Other who is
> also licensed, and only one can use the home shack at a time
> 
> Yes, there are contest shacks available where the guest op doesn't have to
> do more than show up, set up, operate and leave.  But how many of them
> really exist?  A thousand?  A gross?  A dozen?  Many of the DX/vacation
> shacks that are advertised are not always available for contest weekends
> (often they are pre-booked by the owner for his/her own use), and many
> require the operator to bring some equipment (be it antennas, rigs,
> whatever) with them.  Further, many (especially those at particularly
> pleasant resort or DX locations) are booked by non-amateurs for other
> reasons too.
> 
> And frankly, why shouldn't some of these be available for rent?  Take my
> neighbor an hour or so north of me, K3LR.  Tim & his partners & teammates
> have invested thousands of dollars and untold hundreds of man hours on their
> antenna system, their computer interfacing, and their station equipment.
> What's wrong with Tim renting his contest shack out, if he should so choose
> (and I don't know if he does or not, I'm just picking on him for sake of
> this example) on a weekend that he won't be using it to try and recoup a few
> of those dollars -- money that he can reinvest in his station, if he should
> so choose?
> 
> A 30% penalty?  Almost a third of your score?  Because your borrowed someone
> else's shack?  Please.  Don't we have bigger things to worry about, like
> keeping contest participation up and improving our skill levels and fighting
> the BPL menace?
> 
> 73, ron wn3vaw
> 
> "I lost most of my squad over Macho Grande... Planes too..."
> Ted Stryker, Airplane II:  The Sequel
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 00:58:41 EST
> From: K3BU at aol.com
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Self Spotting
> 
> In a message dated 4/1/04 10:58:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> Cqtestk4xs at aol.com writes:
> >>I and other big stations did not just "throw money at towers and amps".
> We
> busted our asses in research, scavenging materials, and homebrewed lots of
> stuff.  That, takes lots of skill.  We then invested more in researching
> past
> scores to know where to put our efforts in a given contest.  That takes
> skill.<<
> 
> Mainly antennas, if you got no signal from antenna, no money or amps will
> help you. As Bill says, takes a lot of skill, in addition - operating,
> knowing
> propagation, maximizing station, souping up lousy equipment but mainly
> antennas,
> antennas, antennas and knowing how to select, build and use them. True
> contester builds and operates his own station.
> 
> Then there are "drive-in operators" who drive, fly, walk, swim into someone
> else's station
> and do it easy way. They should be penalized by 30% less points :-)
> 
> Yuri, K3BU.us
> 
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>     The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
> THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS!
>        http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest

-- 
__________________________________________________________________________                       
                                     Alan Zack
                     Amateur Radio Station K7ACZ
                         Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
          Quality Engineer, The Boeing Company, Retired
  Aviation Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Coast Guard, Retired
        U.S. Coast Guard, Always Ready, Always There
Every hour, Every day, Around the Clock and Around the World
                             SEMPER PARATUS 
	http://www.gocoastguard.com/