[CQ-Contest] A public thanks to CQP (and others who've tossed the MAR mult away)

[Gerry Hull]

Canada's sections for SS 2023:

Alberta AB
British Columbia BC
Manitoba MB
New Brunswick NB
Newfoundland and Labrador NL
Nova Scotia NS
Ontario Golden Horseshoe GH
Ontario East ONE
Ontario North ONN
Ontario South ONS
Prince Edward Island PE
Quebec QC
Saskatchewan SK
Territories TER

I suspect NS will be the rare one and hard to get, especially in SS CW.
Not a lot of active contesters in NS anymore,
and none that I know of that will do Sweepstakes.

I'll be operating from NB (via remote); N3JT as VY1JT from VY1JA's QTH (via
remote)
73,

Gerry W1VE aka VE1RM /VE9 for SS CW


On Wed, Sep 27, 2023 at 7:15 PM Paul Bourque <pbourque at gmail.com> wrote:

> The MAR section is no longer, effective 1-1-2023. NS and NB have been
> added, as well as PE. The ARRL/RAC section list has been updated to reflect
> that. There’s s link to the contest sections list on the ARRL Sweepstakes
> web page.
>
> Paul Bourque, N1SFE
> ARRL Contest Program Manager
>
> On Wed, Sep 27, 2023 at 4:44 PM JOHN GEIGER via CQ-Contest <
> cq-contest at contesting.com> wrote:
>
> > Isn't the MAR "section" still in play for the SS, with only PE split off
> > from it?
> >
> >
> >
> > 73 John AF5CC
> >
> >
> > Sent using {0}
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---- On Wed, 27 Sep 2023 13:07:10 -0500 Mike VE9AA ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca <
> > ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca> wrote ---
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Some of this is a little tongue-in-cheek or my weak attempt at humour
> > (it'll hopefully be obvious which parts) so try not to take everything
> > I've written below as too serious.
> > For those of you that are humour impaired, please look away....look away
> > now !
> >
> > A little unrelated to contesting, but did any of you ever watch the
> > Canadian Comedy TV show "Corner Gas" whereby when a neighbouring town
> > name was mentioned(normally Wullerton), all the residents of Dog River
> > present would spit (or fake spit) on the ground?
> > When I hear the acronym "MAR", that's me.  SOME of us guys out East (at
> > least me in particular) almost "hates" MAR (but hate is way too
> > strong......) Very much dislikes the "MAR" designation only as it
> > relates to contesting because I don't live in MAR<spit>, I live in New
> > Brunswick. (or Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island) etc. and MOST contests
> > have always permitted us to send the correct Provincial designation. In
> > the past I didn't always get to play for the home team! (Only SS, ARRL
> > 160, some Sprints and CQP are the ones that come to mind)
> > A few years ago the (various) Sprint folks were very kind to us VE9, VE1
> > and VY2 types and may have been among the first (of the last!) of
> > contests to let us send NB, NS and PE---so another thank you to those
> > movers and shakers !
> > Not long after (actually, Jan 1, 2023), RAC (It's kinda/sorta like the
> > VE version of the ARRL for those readers abroad) finally got rid of the
> > MAR designation (which has absolutely NOTHING to do with contests, I
> > should be careful to mention) and so the last few contests that I am
> > aware of have all adopted the NB, NS and PE designations for mults
> > (partially?) based on the RAC and ARRL finally no longer using
> > it....again MAR as it relates to RAC and ARRL has zero to do with
> > contesting !
> > (there is still some housekeeping work to be done @ ARRL fixing up
> > scores and records, but that's minor)
> > I believe (but stand to be corrected) that the CQP
> > <https://www.cqp.org/Rules.html> CQP Rules
> > which most of us love, was the very last holdout on the World stage to
> > get rid of it. (they called it MR) <spits on ground> :-)
> > Thank you to Chris/N6WM and all those folks in California who have
> > finally permitted us to send NB, NS and PE in your truly great QSO
> > party.
> > So anyways......I am rambling a little bit. I guess I don't have
> > anything left to complain about contesting wise--Geez-what
> > now?......maybe cut #'s in serial # contests? High K indices?
> > Perpetually losing the Poison d'Avril test?  or maybe everyone being
> > zero beat in a big EU pileup on 80m? (1rst World problems from here in
> > the Northeast?)
> > I wish to extend my thanks to all of you to have put up with my minor
> > moaning and groaning over the decades while I worked  (in tandem with
> > others to be sure) to help supply information and reasoning  to those
> > last small handful of contests to move us away from using "MAR" <spit>
> > as a mult.  In the end the situation mostly remedied itself and sponsors
> > like Sprint and CQP agreed to modify their rules on mults. based on what
> > RAC and the ARRL and a few others have done.
> > Now I really AM rambling.
> > Appreciation all around ! ! !
> > Mike VE9AA, current president Maritime Contest Club (MCC) (Is it Ironic
> > our contest club name has that word in it?) haha
> >
> >
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