[CQ-Contest] Is Self Spotting now allowed in ARRL tests?

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

The difference is that if highly competitive single ops can self-spot, 
they will do so after every QSO, not every 10 minutes.  They are 
motivating those people to clog up the packet cluster network in ways 
that will make the RBN seem almost trivial.

73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the new Reverse Beacon Network
web server at<https://reversebeacon.net>.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.

On 11/22/2022 8:17 PM, Richard F DiDonna NN3W wrote:
> Why doesn't it?  There is no prohibition against it.  ARRL has 
> started that you can spot yourself, have friends spot you, put out 
> posts on Facebook and Twitter, and have a banner tower aircraft or the 
> Goodyear Blimp broadcast your frequency.
>
> Skimmer and the RBN puts out your call and frequency on CW every 5 or 
> 6 minutes.  How is the aforementioned then any different if you do an 
> autoscript to blast out your frequency every 5 minutes?
>
> 73 Rich NN3W
>
> On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 7:19 PM Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
>     It makes no sense to encourage stations to clog the clusters with
>     spots
>     of themselves, just because they can.
>
>     73, Pete N4ZR
>     Check out the new Reverse Beacon Network
>     web server at<https://reversebeacon.net>.
>     For spots, please use your favorite
>     "retail" DX cluster.
>
>     On 11/22/2022 12:12 PM, Tim Shoppa wrote:
>     > Bob W5OV of the ARRL has corrected me.
>     >
>     > He writes "Your reading of PROH.3 is not correct. That exclusion is
>     > specifically about making schedules, soliciting contacts (i.e.;
>     CQing), and
>     > sending or receiving the required QSO exchange information via
>     non-amateur
>     > means. It says nothing about spotting."
>     >
>     > I myself fail to see any distinction between self-spotting on a
>     Telnet
>     > cluster, and soliciting i.e. CQing using non-amateur means, but
>     that's
>     > official from W5OV of ARRL.
>     >
>     > Tim N3QE
>     >
>     > On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 9:13 AM Tim Shoppa<tshoppa at gmail.com> wrote:
>     >
>     >> First, make sure you have the latest rules. ARRL didn't update the
>     >> November SS rules (to the latest, version 1.06) on their
>     website until late
>     >> August. Prior to that we just had a confusing tease about
>     self-spotting
>     >> from a Contest Update earlier in the year.
>     >>
>     >> Link to current SS rules:
>     >> https://contests.arrl.org/ContestRules/SS-Rules.pdf
>     >>
>     >> My reading of SS rule PROH.3 in version 1.06 of the rules, is that
>     >> self-spotting is a form of soliciting contacts by a non-amateur
>     radio means
>     >> (in this case Telnet cluster) and thus prohibited:
>     >>
>     >> "Examples of prohibited conduct [...]: PROH.3. Arranging,
>     soliciting, or
>     >> confirming any contacts during or after the contest by use of any
>     >> non-amateur radio means."
>     >>
>     >> One clarification in 1.06 does explicitly allow a corner case
>     of spotting,
>     >> that was never previously mentioned in past contest rules. In the
>     >> definition section you will find, "Generating spotting
>     information for use
>     >> by other stations is not considered to be spotting assistance."
>     So for
>     >> example you can be hooked up to a cluster and sending spots, as
>     long as
>     >> you've set all the filters such that nothing ever comes in to
>     you from the
>     >> cluster.
>     >>
>     >> Tim N3QE
>     >>
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