[CQ-Contest] Remote Site Contesting Rules

[Michael Tope]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Osborne" <w7why at verizon.net>
To: "CQ-Contest" <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Remote Site Contesting Rules


> Seems like whenever someone tries to push the envelope higher, people try
> and try to find ways to shoot their progress down.  With new technologies,
> things are going to get very interesting in the next few years.
>
> But, rules need to be set first.  Be a shame if someone invests kilobucks 
> in
> a remote station, then have some rule say 5 years from now, 'you can do
> that'.
>
> Someone mentioned it 'not being fair'.  That is kinda like 'leveling the
> playing field'.  I think fair is in the eye of the beholder.  I think it
> ain't fair that some people have bigger antennas and better rigs than I do
> :-)  73
> Tom W7WHY
>

With urban dwellers facing the onslaught of more and more zoning
restrictions and the time pressures facing working folks (at least here
in the states), it would seem to me that the rules SHOULD encourage
remote operation, but only to the extent that remote operation doesn't
become a prerequisite for being competitive. IOW, using a remote
site that is 50 miles from home where property is affordable, noise is
low, and zoning restrictions are looser, would allow an urban bound
ham to enjoy the benefits of building a competitive station without
alienating his family and or suffering from a 100 mile/day commute.
There is a fellow here in Southern California who does this, although
for serious contests, he usually drives to the remote site since I think he
still has some control latency problems (he may use dial-up for the
remote link). This is exactly the kind of operation the rules SHOULD
encourage. Technology and society are both moving in that direction
(didn't Ten-Tec recently unveil an ethernet ready HF rig). What you
DO NOT want the rules to encourage is a guy in Southern California
running JAs on his home station, and then switching to a remote site
in Maine when the bands are good to Europe since the only way to
equalize that kind of competitive advantage would be to have a
remote site thousands of miles from your primary station location.
Sure 50 or 100 miles can make some difference in terms of propagation
differential, but it's generally not a decisive advantage if at all.

How about the following:

"All transmitting antennas must be within a 500 meter circle, and all
receiving antennas must be within a 500 meter circle. The centers
of the respective transmitting and receiving 500 meter circles can be
no more than 100 miles apart."

This sort of rule would allow for operations a'la N7JW (transmit at
home, receive remote), but would prohibit the entrant from receiving
at two different locations that are widely (or even not so widely
separated). BTW, the above rules say absolutely nothing about
where the operator sits since the only thing that really counts are
how far apart the antennas are.

73, Mike W4EF...............................