[CQ-Contest] A smoking gun? (was RE: KP2MM Disqualified in ARRL CW 2012)

[Zack Widup]

Those are good points, Dick. If I held a General class license and
operated a contest using my own callsign, whether I was at my home,
someone else's station, mobile, or at a portable station out in the
middle of nowhere that I set up, I think it would be unwise to operate
outside my operating privileges. Operating in Extra-only band segments
is bound to be noticed by someone or other and someone is probably
going to query it.

I believe a station licensee can designate someone else to be a
control operator. For instance, our club used the club callsign on
Field Day. The trustee has an Extra class license. So do I. I was
designated a control op a couple times when people with lower class
licenses were operating. I sat next to them and watched as they
operated.

73, Zack W9SZ


On 6/25/12, Dick Green WC1M <wc1m73 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think we agree in principle, but our reasoning is slightly different.
>
> You referred to the "owner of the station". That's not a factor in this.
> What matters is who is the station licensee. That doesn't have to be the
> owner of the physical station. As I read the rules, it's the person whose
> station/operator license has the *call sign* that's being used. Why? Because
> the station and operating license are granted together under a single call
> sign. When a call sign is used, the default assumption is that the holder of
> that call sign is both the station licensee and the control operator. A
> station licensee may designate someone else to be the control operator, in
> which case the rules require both to be present. But an Amateur holding a
> valid station/operating license may "borrow" a station and use his/her own
> call sign, in which case that Amateur becomes both the station licensee and
> the control operator, and is the only one who must be present. The owner of
> the station is irrelevant in this case.
>
> The distinction is important because if I use another person's call, or a
> club call, then that person or club trustee is the station licensee and is
> therefore equally responsible with the designated control operator (me in
> this case) for proper station operation. This is what happens in many guest
> operations, and I believe the rules imply that the station licensee must be
> present in this case. But if, as a guest op, I use my own call sign, then I
> am in effect "borrowing" the station equipment and using it as my own
> station. In this case, I am both the station licensee and the control
> operator, and have sole responsibility for proper operation of the station.
> The owner of the physical station has no responsibility at all in this case
> and doesn't have to be present.
>
> In other words, if I do a contest at your house and sign W1MD, you are the
> station licensee and you have designated that I am the control operator. We
> both have to be there to ensure proper operation. But if I do a contest at
> your house and sign WC1M, I am both the station licensee and the control
> operator, and you don't have to be there.
>
> I would bet there have been hundreds of Single-Op guest operations in which
> the host's call sign was used, but the host was not always present to ensure
> proper operation of the station. That's a violation of the host's station
> license, and therefore grounds for DQ. And if the host was present, then
> ARRL's logic in the KP2MM case would say that the operation is Multi-Op. But
> I know of no case where this rule has actually been enforced.
>
> 73, Dick WC1M
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: w1md at cfl.rr.com [mailto:w1md at cfl.rr.com]
>> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 5:05 PM
>> To: Dick Green WC1M; CONTEST
>> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] A smoking gun? (was RE: KP2MM Disqualified in
>> ARRL CW 2012)
>>
>> I guess you didn't really read my note did you Dick... :)
>>
>> This was one of the area's I was calling out...if you read down the
>> looooooong thread.
>>
>> Marty
>> W1MD
>>
>> ---- Dick Green WC1M <wc1m73 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hmmm. I may have found a smoking gun that kills the argument being
>> > advanced about the presence of the control operator. FCC Part 97 says:
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > (a)   The station licensee is responsible for the proper operation of
>> the
>> > station in accordance with the FCC Rules. When the control operator is
>> > a different amateur operator than the station licensee, both persons
>> > are equally responsible for proper operation of the station.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > So, if I do a guest Single-Op at K5ZD and use his call sign, Randy
>> > designates me as the control op but he remains the station op. In this
>> > case, by the rule quoted above, the FCC requires both of us to ensure
>> > proper operation of the station. The rules don't specifically require
>> > it, but I would think in order to do the job required by the FCC,
>> > Randy must be present at the control point. Even if he's not required
>> > to be there all of the time, the rule implies that he must be there at
>> > least some of the time to ensure proper station operation.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Since Randy's presence is implicitly required in order to comply with
>> > FCC rules, does this turn my Single-Op into a Multi-Op? If so, we
>> > really do have
>> > 30 years of widespread violations on our hands!
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > 73, Dick WC1M
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
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