[CQ-Contest] Rent-A-Shack

[Kelly Taylor]

I certainly have no quarrel with the business of renting stations: VY2SS,
WP2Z and others seem to do a good business serving those who wish to operate
from more advantaged locations but don't have the cash to buy a spread on
Prince Edward Island or in the Caribbean. I certainly don't have an issue
with operators who patronize those establishments either: station-building
skills aren't the only skills requisite to contesting and plenty of talented
operators don't yet have the means to build their own stations. And there is
nothing anywhere that says you can only operate from stations you construct
yourself.

Nobody expects AI6V to spend all the money he has in Aruba and then let it
out for free.

But these places grant you exclusive use during your stay. If you book
P40(whatever) for CQ WW it's yours: invite who you wish up to any limit
imposed by the proprietor. You sink or swim based on the operating skills
your group brings to the desk.

Be all this as it may, I don't think this operation poses a threat to
contesting. If a group of contesting newbies want to pay to join a
successful operation to develop their skills, all the power to them. We only
benefit by having more contesters. But it sounds like for the majority on
this reflector, the e-mail Ron received is just one more use for the Delete
function. The number of recipients who do that will determine the fate of
this particular operation.

73, kelly
ve4xt