[CQ-Contest] OOF!

[James Cain]

N5KO wrote: "All parties gave support [for Cabrillo] without hesitation
except for CQ -- the CQ representative said 'CQ will give support, but only
if you remove 'ARRL' from the name.'  Oof!"

I agree with CQ magazine's position. At that point, it no longer was an
"ARRL format" but rather a generic one. Leaving "ARRL" in the name would
have confused people.

There was a lot of bad blood between ARRL and CQ magazine following the Don
Miller, W9WNV episode in the mid-1960s. In February, 1968, Miller sued the
ARRL and its General Manager and Secretary, John Huntoon, W1RW. ARRL had
disallowed a number of Miller's claimed DXpeditions to rare places (e.g.
Heard Island, Navassa, others) when he, Miller, could produce no proof he'd
been to them.

CQ backed Miller during the dispute and published a number of quotes from
him, some of which the ARRL disputed. Miller sought $550,000 in damages;
following depositions, the suit was dropped. No money changed hands.

When I arrived to work in Newington in 1973, John Huntoon told me it was OK 
to
operate in the CQ contests from W1AW but not to send in a log. That would
have put "W1AW" in the line listings in CQ. I didn't blame Mr. Huntoon one
bit.

Fortunately, time and mortality seem to have healed those wounds between the
world's two biggest contest and awards sponsors. But I know from meeting all
the principals that the wounds were very deep indeed.

Three QST articles make fascinating reading:

May, 1968, p. 81;
October, 1968, p. 83;
April, 1969, p. 82.

I am associated with neither the ARRL nor CQ.

Jim Cain, K1TN
Atlantic City