[CQ-Contest] Self spotting should be legal

[Dennis McAlpine]

Certainly the idea of being DQed because someone else spotted me too often
is an anathema to me.  Let us carry this to an extreme.  I am locked in a
battle with W4OC for top score in W4.  I realize that he is winning and I
can't catch up.  But, wait.  How about I spot him a lot of times.  If I do
it enough, maybe he will be DQed for "self spotting".  Certainly, the
Committee doesn't know if I am doing it on purpose or not; they can just
assume I am doing it to help Don because he is a good friend.  But, at the
same time, my neighbor down the street, KK4SQH, isn't much into contesting
but I have shown him how to spot stations while he is looking around for new
countries for himself.  He, without me knowing, thinks it would help me beat
W4OC if he spotted me a lot so he does.  And, I too get DQed.  Duplicate
this a few times and havoc rules supreme.  Low and behold, KK4SQH becomes
top W4 score with 100 QSOs.

 

When skimmers started I thought we had the answer.  Everyone would be
spotted and probably a lot of times and that has happened to some extent.  I
have even learned to insert a "CQ" in front of "TEST" just so the skimmer
will find me.  And, I have learned other tricks to make sure that the
skimmer spots me.  Is that self-spotting?  Probably not, but close.  

 

OK, a skimmer spot is not as good as a third person spot but it's close and
certainly better than nothing.  But, as band condx fade, I find it harder to
find a skimmer that can hear me - much less a real DX station.  So, I build
my own skimmer and feed it into some of the telnets.  Now, I know the
skimmer can hear me.  After all, it is only 2' away from the xmtr.  Is that
self spotting?  Maybe not, but it sure is getting close.  

 

So what is the answer?  Simple.  Allow self spotting every 10 or 15
minutes.. I'm sure the contest programs can program themselves to send a
self spot every 10 minutes.  And, I bet the telnet programmers can make sure
that the same call on the same band is not spotted more than once every 10
minutes.  Problem solved.  No more erroneous DQs - at least for
self-spotting.  And the reflectors can down to serious business.

 

73, Dennis, K2SX