[CQ-Contest] CQ WPX rules, it finally happened

[jimk8mr at aol.com]

1.? I'd hope that a few accidental violations of a 3-qso ID rule would not result in disqualification. That should be reserved for those who persistently and flagrantly ignore the rule.

2.? For lesser violators, with the existence of SDR recordings, if a penalty need be assessed, disallowing any QSOs made after the three QSO limit, until an ID is made, would be a fair penalty.

3. A distinction should be made between serious competitors, who might gain a competitive advantage from their rudeness of not IDing, and more casual participants (i.e. the Sunday afternoon African guy who gets overwhelmed with the pileup.


Observations beyond the rule question:

1.? I find that skipping IDing works best with smooth, no fill, in rhythm QSOs. An ID serves a useful function after a QSO requiring a repeat, or after a guy who calls at half the speed of the pileup, by resyncing the pileup.

2.? With a reasonable callsign on phone, an ID takes almost no time. Just use only the letters -? K 8 A Zed? rather than Kilowatt Eight America Zanzibar. I've had 280 hours, and seen the rate meter pushing 500, while giving a callsign after every QSO in that manner. I do give out a slower, and hopefully more understandable, call with phonetics every 4 or 5 QSOs.

Of course this does not work so well if your call is VP2V/WB5WBW.



73? -? Jim?? K8MR



-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Low <kenke3x at gmail.com>
To: cq-contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 31, 2014 12:04 pm
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] CQ WPX rules, it finally happened

 
 
 
"I think some of the software has a setting where it will automatically send a  
CQ after so many Q's are logged.? That would work to make it legal." 
 
True, Win-Test has that feature, but it only helps on CW.  On Phone, the op will  
need to remember. 
 
I fully agree with KK9A and VE4XT's comments on this.   Frequency of ID'ing  
should be governed by FCC regulations, not by the 'contest police' or a Contest  
Director reviewing SDR recordings.   I make decisions on how often to ID based  
on a handful of factors.   If I don't ID frequently enough, I fully recognize I  
run the risk of losing potential callers who tune by.  That's part of strategy. 
 
To comply with a mandatory ID rule, most serious ops will just change their 'dit  
dit' or 'TU' F-key message to simply send their call sign instead, probably at  
very high speed.  Not clear to me how that makes the contest better for  
participants in aggregate, which should be the goal of any rule change. 
 
I would hope that contest directors use some common sense if this rule were to  
become standard.  In 'Hour 34' of a 36-hour contest, it will be very easy for  
any sleep-deprived operator (including a world-class one) to hit the wrong  
'F'-Key, violate the rule and get disqualified.   That will be very popular with  
an operator who just spent $3,000 and a week of his life on a DX-pedition to V47  
or 8P. 
 
Anyway, this discussion distracts from the much bigger problem of power  
cheating, which is far more harmful to the sport. 
 
Ken KE3X