[CQ-Contest] ARRL DX Contest Multioperator Station Guidelines

[Eric Rosenberg]

For those of us in small geographic area with few active hams, this new 
rule presents an interesting scenario.

The District of Columbia's borders are a diamond, 6 mi (W->N) x 10 mi 
(N->E), x 9.7 mi (E->S) x 10.6 mi (S->W), an area of 177 km2  (roughly 
67 km2 parkland, 18.9 km2  water). The Potomac River is the western 
border.

I asked the following question on the PVRC mailing list (copying the 
Contest Desk @ ARRL)

>This rule is a tough one for those of us who live in small areas.
>
>Being in the District of Columbia -- which counts as a multiplier in 
>this contest -- it appears that all the participants in a multi-op 
>situation must be in the District. The few active home stations in DC 
>are relatively small -- the curse of living in an urban environment. 
>There are a couple of larger club stations, however (K3VOA and 4U1WB 
>come to mind), but they are not eligible to operate in this category.
>
>My question is whether stations located in Maryland can be part of a DC 
>multioperator team. While DC is a separate multiplier in this contest, 
>it counts as Maryland for DXCC purposes.


The following was the response Paul Bourque, N1SFRE, Contet Program 
Manager sent to Tim Shoppa, N3QE, for posting to the PVRC email 
reflector:

>Good morning Tim,
>
>Thanks for the good questions.  The exchange will be the same for all 
>stations participating in the multi-op, just as if they are physically 
>located at the station.  The variance in the rules for this year is 
>really just expanding the "500 meter circle" rule out to 100km.
>
>I will clarify that on the ARRL website as well to add "and exchange" 
>to bullet point 4:
>
>*       All team member stations must use the same call sign and 
>exchange as the multi-op contest station for the duration of the 
>contest.
>
>I also saw Eric W3DQ's question in the PVRC list( below) - the 
>operators just have to be within 100km of each other, there are no 
>limitations to having to be located within the same state.  The only 
>limitation is that they have to be within the same DXCC entity.  If you 
>can pass my reply onto the list, as I'm not a member of that list, I'd 
>appreciate it.
>
>Eric W3DQ, wrote:
>
>"My question is whether stations located in Maryland can be part of a 
>DC multioperator team. While DC is a separate multiplier in this 
>contest, it counts as Maryland for DXCC purposes."
>
>This rule variance is applying only to 2021 ARRL DX contest, not 
>Sweepstakes. The exchange and multipliers for ARRL DX is "State or 
>Province," not ARRL/RAC section-
>
>Exchange: W/VE stations send a signal report and their state or 
>province. (See the ARRL Contest Multipliers List for a list of 
>abbreviations.) DX stations send a signal report and power as a number 
>or abbreviation.
>
>If you can pass my reply onto the list, as I'm not a member of that 
>list, I'd appreciate it.
>
>73,
>Paul Bourque, N1SFE
>Contest Program Manager

That being said, I can "host" the multioperator team, all of whom would 
send DC as the exchange. The cabrillo log would reflect that. For LoTW 
(WAS) purposes, each station's would uploaded separately with their 
unique state and grid square information. I've this before with special 
event stations here in DC.

An interesting exercise, indeed!

73,
Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC (really!)

-------- original message --------

Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:59:16 +0000 (UTC)
From: jimk8mr at aol.com
To: "k5zd at outlook.com" <k5zd at outlook.com>
Cc: "cq-contest at contesting.com" <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] ARRL DX Contest Multioperator Station
     Guidelines
Message-ID: <592967306.1983499.1603457956467 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

No requirement that the individual stations must be in the same state or 
province?
Does one send the master station's state, or the state where they are 
actually located?? If the later, it might provide some good practice in 
copying what is actually sent.

73? -? Jim? ?K8MR