[CQ-Contest] A voice of reason among the din of accusations

[David Gilbert]

Thanks for the morning chuckle.  You laud John's post as "the voice of 
logic and reason" and then go on to strongly criticize both the rule and 
those who wrote it.

And I too am astounded and amazed.  For different reasons, of course.   ;)

Dave   AB7E




On 7/10/2013 8:52 AM, Hank Greeb wrote:
> Wow! A voice of logic and reason in this cacophony of "Disqualify - 
> they're breaking the rules" crowd!
>
> I'm absitively impressed! Astounded!  Amazed!  Will wonders never 
> cease???
>
> Congratulations!
>
> But, may I ask again - the rules state that only one multiplier by 
> band be allowed for each National Entity.  Why must people be forced 
> to either violate their country's regulations, or choose people who 
> aren't as qualified to comply with the rules?Why should it be 
> confusing to folks to work IO1HQ signing 5NN ARI and IO2 signing 59 
> ARI to "think" that he/she has two different multipliers with the rule 
> specifically stating that one HQ mulitplier per band. Perhaps the 
> "band" needs to be specified so as NOT to be ambiguious about 
> Band/Mode, but that is easily accomplished. What is "practically 
> wrong" with dropping the requirement that the same call MUST be used 
> by stations on the two different modes?  Seems very, very, parochial 
> NOT to accommodate our fellow hams in the world who MUST live by 
> regulations which are different than exist @ 225 Main Street, 
> Newington, CT 06111. Who drew up these rules anyway? Were NOT folks 
> from Italy, Japan, etc., who have the more restrictive 
> regulationgivena chance to understand the implications of this quite 
> restrictive, and unnecessary rule?
>
> BTW, who are members of the "rules" committed of the IARU and the 
> Championship contest?  I wish to forward my comments directly to them, 
> and NOT through this forum.
>
> 72/73 de n8xx Hg
> QRP >99.44% of the time
>
> On 7/10/2013 9:43 AM, cq-contest-request at contesting.com wrote:
>> Message: 7
>> Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 09:35:42 -0400
>> From: John Dorr<k1ar at aol.com>
>> To:cq-contest at contesting.com
>> Subject: [CQ-Contest] IARU HQ Callsigns
>> Message-ID:
>>     <CAPAgC8-0mmwg-_RgnLVp4Ovsciebbg_mFgvjrf6vfzL84d3EUw at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>>
>> Good morning all,
>>
>> I'd like to shed some light on the IARU HF Championship callsign 
>> debate, put forth the final action plan and have us move on.
>>
>> Several years ago, the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) 
>> offered to take on the tasks of scoring and adjudicating the HQ 
>> station logs for the IARU HF Championship. The ARRL agreed. As a 
>> result, WWROF has been providing log-checking and score-calculation 
>> services for this event to ARRL since that time and have had no issues.
>>
>> In recent days, we have become aware that the Italian national 
>> society (Associazione Radioamatori Italiani, or ARI) plans to use 
>> more than one callsign on several bands in the contest next weekend 
>> (different callsigns on CQ and Phone on some bands). The ARI has been 
>> operating in this manner for a few years. This is a violation of Rule 
>> 4.3.3, which states "Only one HQ station callsign per member society 
>> per frequency band is permitted."
>>
>> This rule exists so that it is clear that working the same HQ station 
>> on Phone and CW on one band counts for only one multiplier. With 
>> different callsigns on each mode, some operators may think they are 
>> working a new multiplier when they contact a "second" HQ station in 
>> the same country.
>>
>> In some countries, it is possible to use a single callsign across all 
>> regions (TM0HQ, for example). In other countries this is not allowed 
>> (Italy, Spain, Japan, for example), so a multi-site operation may 
>> require the use of multiple callsigns for one HQ operation. If you 
>> review the IARU HF Championship results for 2012, you will notice 
>> that the HQ stations in Italy and Japan are listed as "IUxHQ" and 
>> 8NxHQ", since each of these stations was spread out over multiple 
>> call areas and the score computed as if all were using the same 
>> callsign.
>>
>> A close review of last year's logs shows that three HQ stations 
>> (LRxF, IUxHQ, and 8NxHQ) violated Rule 4.3.3 by using different 
>> callsigns in the CW and Phone segments of several bands. This rule 
>> was not enforced last year nor in any previous years.
>>
>> The URE (Spain) has announced their plan for an operation in this 
>> weekend's 2013 contest that is in full compliance with the rule 
>> (e.g., the HQ stations will use the same callsign on both modes on 
>> the same band).
>>
>> On the other hand, both the ARI and the Radio Club Argentino have 
>> also announced their plans for this weekend with a planned callsign 
>> approach that does not comply with Rule 4.3.3.
>>
>> The ARI has claimed that they received permission from someone at 
>> ARRL at some time in the past to use different callsigns on a band. 
>> Any such permission was given in error. However, we will honor that 
>> permission this year, and will not disqualify the ARI entry or any 
>> other entries that violate Rule 4.3.3.
>>
>> Planning a major multi-site HQ station operation is a significant 
>> undertaking, and it seems unfair to force the ARI (or RCA, or JARL) 
>> to move some of their stations to different call areas at this late 
>> date in order to comply with a rule that has never been enforced. We 
>> will note in the results that the ARI station (and any other stations 
>> in the same situation) did not comply with Rule 4.3.3.
>>
>> This is going to be a one-time exception. All IARU member society HQ 
>> stations will be required to comply fully with all rules for the 2014 
>> IARU HF Championship.
>>
>> It is understandable that some member societies that are working hard 
>> to plan HQ operations in strict compliance with the rules will be 
>> unhappy with this ruling. We ask that they accept this decision in 
>> the spirit of good sportsmanship and that everyone have fun and make 
>> lots of QSOs this weekend.
>>
>> 73,
>> John , K1AR
>> Chairman, WWROF
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