[CQ-Contest] QSOs and Thoroughbreds

[Paul O'Kane]

Just as there is more than one way to have a "QSO", there is
more than one way to breed horses.

The Jockey Club, however, insists on the old-fashioned method
for breeding thoroughbreds (the contesters of the horse world)
- even though there are more modern, efficient, practical,
convenient, and inexpensive methods.

Here's an extract from http://www.slate.com/id/3487/ that's
worth a read.

   Rule 1(D) of the American Stud Book - 
  
   "To be eligible for registration, a foal must be the result
   of a stallion's natural service with a broodmare (which is
   the physical mounting of a broodmare by a stallion), and a
   natural gestation must take place in, and delivery must be
   from, the body of the same broodmare in which the foal was
   conceived."

   It's a shocking provision. Everything else in today's
   society has been converted to mass production. One would
   think that there is a more modern way to breed a horse,
   something involving hydraulic machinery, vacuum tubes,
   pumps, stainless-steel vats, perhaps even cross-country
   pipelines.

Imagine that - to breed a thoroughbred, both parties have to
be there - the noble deed has to be done in person.  None of
your remote control (AI) here!

Why? - for the purposes of control, integrity and exclusivity
(among others).

There's a parallel with contest QSOs.  We can do them the
thoroughbred way, person-to-person - with RF all the way,
or we can compromise on standards, and devalue QSOs by
replacing RF with the internet or remote control. We could
even stoop so low as to take the personal touch out
altogether, and think of QSOs as station-to-station events.

As contesters, do we consider ourselves to be thoroughbreds,
- or just a bunch of ill-bred old nags?  :-)

73,
Paul EI5DI