[CQ-Contest] ETHICS

[David Levine]

I'm in agreement with the VExxx that have responded to this thread. I am
sure I've accidently gone out of band during a contest with certainly no
malicious intent other then it was an oversight on my part. As I was reading
the threads, when "you know he's out of band" came up, the first thought was
General vs Extra and not knowing if they are authorized for the band
segment, but that has already been mentioned many times. 

I have it down now, but knowing which bands, modes and based on license
class just within the US takes some learning. I don't think it is reasonable
to expect those outside the US to memorize every countries band plan. It
certainly might be helpful to them so they position themselves
appropriately, but from the responses I've read here, they do this already. 

I'm sure there will be dozens more posts on this, but from what I've seen in
less then 1 year of active contesting is that 99.9% of participants are
acting in an  appropriate manner and for that 0.1% that is not, it isn't
worth spending 80% of our time discussing it. 

Maybe there are minor software alerts we can suggest to help make it more
obvious. I think clicking on a cluster spot is probably the primary reason
I've accidently can out of band. I know when I'm doing a RTTY contest, I'm
not looking at the dial and tuning by ear to the signals. Same goes with a
CW contest. SSB is where the band plan seems to be a bit more disjointed
between areas and maybe there's a way to make the 99.9% of aware when they
are moving out of their allocation. 

David - K2DSL


-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Don Cassel
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 2:33 PM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] ETHICS

I agree. It's not uncommon to be called by a U.S. station when running below
14150. My responsibility is to be sure I am operating within the bounds of
my license not to check whether anyone else is. The U.S. or any other caller
is responsible to be sure they are operating within the bounds of their
license. So if I work anyone when I am on 14.140 them I am legal and
ethical. It's not my responsibility to police the one out of bounds. 

Chad's example of working on 14153 would also apply to a U.S. Extra class.
Do these guys check to see if all U.S. callers are appropriately licensed to
be calling in on that frequency. Again, it is the responsibility of the
calling station not the one doing the running.

73, Don VE3XD

> This brings up an interesting point.  Is it really the VE's responsibility
> to know that every answer to his CQs is within their band or license
class?
> Sure, this example is a little easier, knowing that US hams can't go below
> 14150, but what if he was on 14153 and a US general class licensee call
> him?  Should he quickly evaluate every caller to see if they are approved
to
> operate on 14153?  If you say "of course not", I ask you, what's the
> difference? In either case, the US ham is operating beyond their license
> class.  Why is it the VE's responsibility to police him if under 14150 and
> not at 14153?
> 
> Chad WE9V