[CQ-Contest] Packet is the root of all evil but...

[Bill Parry]

The continuous complaining about packet is really interesting. It is
interesting because you can blame almost anything on packet. I think that
the attention on packet is obscuring other possible issues that may have a
huge impact on contesting and DXing.

I was reading about the new Omni VII and marveling at the cool stuff that is
included. I know that some guys have been experimenting with remote
contesting for sometime, but it is not something that most would consider in
their means. Apparently, if the Omni works as advertised we can all figure
it out, as long as we can shell out the $3000.

It has always occurred to me that having a station in another part of the
world would be huge fun, both in chasing DX and Contesting. I know, I know,
it is a violation of the rules.  Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped entrants
from violating the rules in the past. We have some recent examples of
stations operating multi with stations from all over; this would be a big
leap. A Multi station could have "listening posts" all over the world and
this would be pretty hard to police. In fact a multi could have multiplier
stations all over the world. These days it seems like you are only guilty if
you get caught. 

I am not trying to make light of the packet issue, but we need to be sure we
keep our eye on the big picture. Things are changing and we need to decide
how to approach these changes so that we keep the focus on our hobby and not
on "ersatz" technology. I have been contesting for 50 years and have seen a
lot of changes, some I like and some I don't. I try to ignore those things
that I don't like, and use the things I do. I certainly wouldn't still be
contesting if it hadn't of been for CT, but I have never wanted to be a
computer "guru".

So what do we do? If the rules we have for Contesting and DXing are what we
want, we either enforce them or not. If we are not going to enforce the
rules, we will have an ever increasing spiral of technology that will make
rules obsolete.

Maybe that's the way it should be?

Bill W5VX

"All organizations are perfectly aligned to get the results they get."