[CQ-Contest] Self Spotting in SS

[john at kk9a.com]

Ed, The Sweepstakes rules that I posted on November 20 (linked below) were
not old rules. Soliciting contacts by non-amateur means is still prohibited!
My post quoted Sweepstakes version 1.06 rules which I printed from the ARRL
site the day before the SS CW contest. The ARRL is now good at putting the
complete rules in a single document.
http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/cq-contest/2022-November/128970.html

John KK9A - W4AAA in 2022 Sweepstakes


Edward Sawyer N1UR

Actually John, (KK9A), those are old rules. As of June this year, the
following applies.


New Rules in effect for all ARRL HF Contests in June

Starting with the ARRL International Digital Contest, in all categories that
allow assistance (Unlimited), the use of online and other non-amateur radio
platforms including but not limited to social media, live video streaming,
and internet chat rooms will be allowed. In all Unlimited and Multioperator
categories, the prohibition of self-spotting, and asking another station to
spot you, will also be removed.

However, it would seem, if you merge 2 of the rules together, self spotting
is now fine if you are Unlimited but saying what your section is as you self
spot is still prohibited.

>From comments I have received, it seems that there were definitely self
spots but that it was far from an overwhelming shift in SS SSB.  Very
interesting to see.

I guess it is WAY more common in VHF contests. So it will be interesting to
see what happens in ARRL 10M next month.

Ed  N1UR