[CQ-Contest] Where have all the young ones gone? courtesy of Pete Seeger

[ve4xt at mymts.net]

Keith raises an interesting point, and it would be interesting to hear a legal opinion.

Sec. 97.113 specifically precludes communications for hire or for material compensation.

So, clearly, Yaesu may NOT pay you to operate an FTdx5000, regardless of whether the intent is for you to espouse the radio's benefits. The ARRL may only pay wages to the W1AW control operator if the station is transmitting at least 40 hours of code practice on at least 6 bands. And so on.

But does that actually preclude the awarding of prizes to winning operators? You're not being "hired" for the contest, and any material compensation is solely dependent on winning and only occurs after adjudication of the results. So nobody is paying you to operate.

I'm sure everyone here has an opinion on my question, but the only true test is an actual legal opinion OR the result of a test case. Has anyone ever been prosecuted for winning that Bermuda contest that once upon a time gave a trip to Bermuda to the winner? For getting a bottle of Ed's wine?

There are a number of reasons why prize money might not be a good idea. Can you imagine if there are lawsuits now, when the only thing at stake is a hunk of wood, what litigation might be like if there was money involved?

I'm just not entirely sure 97.113 is one of them.

73, Kelly
ve4xt 



Sent from my iPad

> On Apr 23, 2015, at 9:01 AM, "Keith Dutson" <kdutson at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> 
> No mistake in the USA, where making money with ham radio is against the law.
> 
> I am involved in all sorts of projects to enrich ham radio, but rarely find
> ANY ham willing to help.  I am always looking for a way to turn this
> attitude around.
> 
> 73, Keith NM5G
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> Bokverket
> Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 4:10 PM
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Where have all the young ones gone? courtesy of Pete
> Seeger
> 
> Reading Colin's post,  the ham radio contesting community must have made
> some mistake somewhere along the road. Where is the prize money?  Big outlay
> for antenna farms, a diploma as reward.  ESports small outlay for the app,
> big rewards in terms of ad money as you are watched playing on YouTube,
> sponsors etc.
> 
> Ad money goes where the audiences are.  Of course YouTube and related
> technology was not available "back then", but with the fabled inventiveness
> of hams, why didn't we invent it?  Like we (VE3...) did with the Skimmer, DX
> cluster, repeaters.  And seriously, judging from some YouTube clips of
> contesters, what's the fun watching someone yelling CQ contest and saying
> some strange letters plus typing at a keyboard and staring at some dials?
> 
> Best, reminiscencing,
> 
> Goran/SM0DRD
> 
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