[CQ-Contest] Looking in the mirror

[Tree]

Shelby - K4WW writes:

> IMHO, all of this becomes moot, if, after any/all contest(s), you can look
> yourself in the mirror, and be convinced that, regardless of the category,
> you did everything within your power to "observe all competition rules for
> fair and ethical operation as well as all regulations for Amateur Radio in
> my country." I was taught, very early, that operating within the spirit and
> intent of the rules was far more important than the score, or the placement
> of that score, among all others! So far..."it works for me"!

I think part of the problem is that we have different tints on our mirrors, 
and what one person might think is an okay practice is seen as being not 
okay by someone else.  One of the great values of a list like cq-contest, is
that we can discuss some of these finer points and hopefully have some kind of
consensus on what is, and what isn't, accceptable.

I believe that those stations who are in contention to make the top ten, or
a new record, need to hold themselves up to the highest interpretation of the
rules.  If WB5WBW who is trying to work a clean sweep with 100 watts and a
dipole happens to ask WB5BWB across town if he has found VE8/VY1 yet, that 
isn't such a big deal.  However, if I was operating W5WMU and needed a 
multiplier, I would think everyone would have the expectation that I would
do that without asking anyone for help.

If I started saying: "Where is VE8?" and someone looked at their packet 
screen and told me - is that not getting assistance in spotting?  This isn't
even a gray area in the rules in my opinion.  It gets worse on SSB, where
the loud stations often have an audience during the contest - and many of 
them are happy to help out if they have the opportunity.

Tree N6TR
tree at kkn.net

PS: The correct answer to someone asking where VE8 is - would be:
"Between VE7 and KL7".  :-)