[CQ-Contest] PARDON ME ?????

[Todd Bendtsen]

" No disrespect to my Canadian contesting friends but why does Canada  need 
to be considered
  the same as a US state in ARRL sponsored contests"

Lots of disrespect taken, thank-you very much.

Lets have a little history lesson shall we....

1914 - ARRL formed.

1920 - That's 85 years ago - ARRL Canadian Division is formed.

So until 1992 and the formation of RAC we were all part of the big happy 
ARRL family.

I would think that 72 years of being part of the ARRL would still count for 
something when it comes to the ARRL contests.

As someone who has enjoyed some success in SS Phone let me assure you that 
"your average VE contester " would NOT favor being dumped from SS and the 
ARRL DX Contests.

"Have you ever worked a NWT, YT, and NU all in the same ARRL contest??"

Have you ever lived in any one of those places in contest season??? I dare 
say 90% of the people on this list don't realize that the main goal from mid 
October till the end of March is merely to survive the winter. Satisfying 
the hoards in a contest is certainly a secondary consideration. VY1JA is to 
be heartily commended for his efforts.

"The support from Canada is poor to begin with anyway."

How many people make the Top 10 in SS without a sweep? Not many. That would 
seem to indicate to me that there is enough participation from Canada. 
Better ask VE4GV if he thinks participation is poor....

As for VY2ZM et al.....
I was going to let that sleeping dog lie but I'm on a roll so what the 
hell....

Bob, KQ2M, suck it up. Canada is as much a part of the ARRL DX Contests as 
the US is for all the same reasons I just pointed out above. K1ZM did what 
he had to do to grab the golden ring. Nothing stopping you, or me, or 
anybody else from setting up shop in VO1 and cleaning his clock. Although I 
suspect VO1AU and VO1MP wouldn't care for anymore neighbors. No different 
than KE3Q going to WP3R for SS. I dont see an uproar to have the rules 
changed so nobody has to compete against Rich.

I think WM5R has provided definitive proof that the VE's aren't walking all 
over everybody because they have a bit more bandwidth. The exception may be 
VE6JY, but when you are consistently the first NA station heard in Europe at 
0800Z it doesn't matter if you are on 14.145 or 14.245

73 Todd