[CQ-Contest] Merging Social Media and Contesting

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

Ed,

You raise an interesting point.  But the question in my mind is, is this ACTUALLY an unfair advantage, or is merely the PERCEPTION of one.

Perception is not necessarily reality, cliché's not withstanding.

Considering that this was not an isolated (ie "for the contest only") incident, but is part of an ongoing effort to (amongst other things) raise awareness of Amateur Radio in general and Contesting/RadioSport in particular -- and in a positive way -- I'm not so sure about how "unfair" an advantage it is.  Further considering that the operating frequency was NOT part of the video feed is, to me, also a factor.  It's one thing to say "Look!  Here I Am!  Work ME!"; it's another thing to say "Look!  See what I'm doing!  Isn't this fun!?"  It would appear, on reflection, that this case may tend significantly more to the later than the former -- based on the information available, of course.

What does W2RE have to say about this?  I'm sure Ray must have some insights into the "before and after" effects and consequences, both anticipated and unexpected.

I'm not saying that your conclusion is incorrect.  You may be, if not entirely correct, down the right path.  But with so little information to go on, let's not jump to a hasty (and ultimately incorrect) conclusion based on this small sample size.

73, ron w3wn

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Sawyer <EdwardS at sbelectronics.com>
To: cq-contest at contesting.com <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wed, Mar 11, 2020 10:30 am
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Merging Social Media and Contesting

Some of you may not be aware of an interesting and different even that happened last weekend.

W2RE of well known RHR fame, decided to not only provide live streaming of his contesting effort, but tied it into the activity he has been doing since early January which is fully integrating the on air DX activity into Facebook and youtube channel streaming.  Ray has done a wonderful job of integrating social media with HF on air activity as part of promoting RHR and DXing in general.  You cant argue that this benefits the hobby in general.

However, the rules of the contest state that "contacts cannot be solicited by non-amateur means".  Examples are typically given but those examples are not exhaustive.  The intent of the rule, I believe, is that you should have people calling you by the normal discovery process that all of us use.  Not a special method no one else is using.

Ray, to his credit, was not showing his transmit frequency ion the video.  And I personally believe there was no intention of using this additional channel to gain an advantage.  At all.  However, if you look at the activity generated on the facebook page - a couple of million hits since early January (bravo Ray) - its hard for me to rationalize that there is not a direct pick up of Qs based on this parallel activity.  Casuals, which are a huge part of running up the Q totals in any major DX contest, may be listening to the channel and say, I wonder how loud I am verses these other guys Ray is working.  And look up on the cluster to find Ray's frequency and give a call to hear themselves.  That is exactly "soliciting a contact by non-amateur means".  Not overtly - like give me a call if you are watching - but by "advertising" and letting the rest happen on its own.

I think it is a wonderful idea on its own.  But it does not compete fairly with those just playing the game by the rules as intended.

CQ WW used to have an unlimited class, maybe they still do.  Maybe we need an unlimited class to promote this "multi channel" contesting.  But mixing it up with normal contesting just doesn't feel right to me.

What do others think?

Ed  N1UR
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