[CQ-Contest] Remote Control in Contests

[Gerry Hull]

You can beat this dead horse forever, Paul.

Were the 4,543 stations talking to CQ8X on the internet?  I think not.
 They were using RADIO.

Did you work him?  You better take him out of your log, lest you think you
were on the internet.

Get over it.

73,

Gerry W1VE

On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 5:22 AM, Paul O'Kane <pokane at ei5di.com> wrote:

>
> In the ARRL Contest Update for April 11, 2012 we read
>
>    Radio Arcala team member Toni OH2UA was at the
>    controls of CQ8X for a serious contest operation
>    in the Azores for WPX SSB.  That's not unusual.
>    What was unusual is that the 4543 contacts were
>    made over a remote link across the Internet -
>    4500 kilometers from the actual station!  Remote
>    operation is becoming more and more common.  Big
>    scores like CQ8X's 15 million points show that
>    remoting can work well!"
>
> It's not surprising that remote control works well - it uses
> the internet!  Nevertheless, it seems to me that if the only
> way you can have a "QSO" is to first connect to the internet,
> and stay connected, then, however you choose to describe it,
> the contact is at best some form of hybrid communications
> contact.  Technical and personal considerations, no matter
> how impressive, how challenging or how deserving, cannot
> change this fact.
>
> By connecting to the internet, contesters abandon the
> communications independence that defines amateur radio -
> the independence that justifies our access to the bands.
> Remote control may be great fun, a significant technical
> challenge and a source of personal satisfaction, but none
> of this is relevant - and especially so in the context of
> contesting.
>
> Those who claim "it's the only way I can get on the air"
> deserve no sympathy. Those who do it to gain a competitive
> advantage deserve derision.  Remote control serves only
> to undermine amateur radio by putting the wires back into
> wireless.  It doesn't just devalue your contacts, it
> disqualifies them as amateur-radio QSOs.  If you can't
> operate amateur radio, or be competitive, from where you
> are, then go to where you can.
>
> To those who enjoy being hybrid-communications amateurs,
> I say go ahead and have fun with remote control, but
> please not during contests - and don't misrepresent your
> contacts as amateur-radio QSOs.  The way to promote
> amateur radio, and contesting in particular, is to
> demonstrate and celebrate its absolute independence as
> a communications mode.
>
> In tolerating remote control, contest organisers lose
> control.
>
> 73,
> Paul EI5DI
>
>
>
>
>
>
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