[CQ-Contest] [NCCC] The answer is there in front of you (was RULES CLARIFICATION...)

[Tree]

At the risk of jumping to conclusions - based upon the number of e-mails 
with this subject that I have been deleting without reading - I think a
mountain is being made of a molehill.

Using common sense - I think many of the questions that are being raised 
have logical simple answers.

1. Does it matter how far away an operator is from a remote controlled 
station?  Answer - as long as RX/TX is all at the remote and otherwise 
meet the distance/ownership requirements - NO.

Yeah - you can get technical on my and tell me that some part of my 
control setup is part of the RX (like if I used an audio filter) - but
really - the issue is where the antennas are.  If you are only bringing 
audio over to your control point - I don't anyone is really going to 
thing you are getting some unfair advantage listening to it with a 
250 millisecond delay and not total frequency response.

2. Can I operate a contest where my station is in a different DXCC country?

YES - as long as it is all legal.  I see the radio operating taking place 
in the country where the radios are in.  You could be in a country you 
don't have a license for and still operate - since you aren't using a 
radio in that country.  

3. Would #2 count for DXCC?  (My answer - who cares) - better answer - the 
DXCC people need to figure that out.  I would say it is fine for a contest
however.

The one obvious question that I think needs to be thought about is what to
do when you have a remote receiver and it is located 50, 100 miles from
your TX.  This is something that might require some new category - or else
people can just enter as check logs.

So - in summary - all of you guys who have gone through the trouble to allow
remote control of your otherwise legal single op station - just relax and 
keep using it.  Having done this myself - I fully appreciate the technical
challenges you are dealing with.  I don't think the current technology really
allows you to have a world class competitive score - but if you did manage
to beat me in a contest - my hat is off to you.

I plan to operate the CQ WW CW contest remote control - single band 160. I
will sound like a lid with the latency on the internet, but it will enable
me to get on during the contest and hand out some QSOs and maybe even work
a new country or two where I wouldn't have been able to otherwise (and meet
my wife's requirement to be down at her folks house during Thanksgiving).
I will have no problem submiting my log as a single-op entry from Oregon.

Tree N6TR
tree at kkn.net