[CQ-Contest] inhale , spots, skimmer, etc: WHAT'S THE POINT?⤏

[Scott Monks]

Bob and all,
     Sorry if my message came off as a negative reply-- that is one of the problems with this media in that we have to keep the text terse to cut down bandwidth and then it sometimes sounds harsh.

> You're right that there "are literally HUNDREDS of things that are not
> mentioned specifically in the rules".
> However, in this case I'm attempting to reduce the number of those things
> to be considered when determining if you should categorize yourself as
> being assisted or not.
     I agree 110% with your effort, as a personal statement you make here, but many of the posts were not of this positive, educational tone and more from a "policeman" point of view.  I have been a ham for some 30 years (am I getting so old?!) but this now past CQWW-SSB contest is the first that I had ever entered, mostly because I had never owned a radio that was of a level that I thought was good enough to even participate (bad reason!).  So, reading the rules was a little unclear to me as well.
     However, my 'life-view' is to try to live ethically (according to my beliefs) because it seems correct to me and makes me feel "better".  At the same time I try to worry or be bothered what I believe are a large portion of the general population who try to get around every rule that they can, almost as a sort of personal protest for some.  That is what I was trying to convey--a lot of people are going to participate in some way that I personally might consider unethical (i.e., no one came to check to see if I actually was using no more than 100w but I was extremely careful to make sure my rig was set to put our EXACTLY 100w and not a bit more!) but I didn't let it affect my enjoyment a bit and didn't feel the urge to police the rest even though I know someone probably was cheating.  I only made 30 contacts in 2 days with a buddiepole on the balcony but I had a ball!!

     Discussing the matter from YOUR viewpoint (NOT the policeman viewpoint) is extremely valuable.  Because I am now equipment-wise able to begin to really work DX (even with this buddiepole--I didn't really believe it would work but it does!) (not an advertizement, just amazement!), I am going to buy a couple of books on the practice of DXing so I can learn more about the techniques necessary.  Why isn't there a reasonably priced book on how to do contesting?  It would be really valuable for any new initiate to that aspect of our hobby.  I would buy it because every contest has some peculiar details (just like this one) that a techniques/spirit of the sport book could address.

     Thanks Bob for making clear your viewpoint, and sorry for inadvertently lumping you in with the "policeman".

Now, I'll start a new topic and ask a question from a newbie to contesting!

Scott  AA0AA