[RTTY] An open letter to Shelby, K4WW

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

Rick Mintz writes: 

> As the "instigator" of the current SO1R vs. SO2R thread, I 
> have been following the collective comments with interest. 
> With the exception of some mini-flames and clearly unworkable 
> suggestions, I think that the thread has voiced a heavy bias 
> towards separate entry classes.

Unfortunately, this effort to exile SO2R to the ghetto is dead 
wrong.  SOmR has been a fixture of contesting for 30 years that 
I know about ... I played with SO2R in the late 70's as AD8I in 
the Columbus, OH area after hearing of others who had multiple 
C-lines, KWM-2s, TR4Cs, etc. with monoband amplifiers and a way 
to listen to more than one at a time.  Still, SOmR has been 
around as long as there have been contests.  Take a look  
here: http://home.columbus.rr.com/jmaass/Radio/kw1-stn.jpg 

It has not always been as easy to set up an effective SO2R station 
as it is now ... one could not grab the credit card, order a SO2R 
controller from TopTen Systems, band decoders and double ten switch 
from microHAM and bandpass filters from ICE, Dunestar or WXOB/W3NQN. 
It took the advent of the memory keyer and the DVK to help make 
SO2R "easier to operate" ... but many of us have been around long 
enough to remember the old-timers with their code wheels and tape 
loops.  Many can remember the screams that the stations with a 
memory keyer (AccuMemory anyone?) should be considered "assisted" 
because the memory keyer freed up time to keep the dupe sheet or 
grab a coke.  

Still, operators of all levels have used SO2R techniques to 
one degree on another ... in some cases it was simply a second 
radio "prepositioned" to make band changes quicker - in others 
it was a second radio on a relatively unused frequency for 
moving multipliers and in still others it was a full-boat S&P 
radio while the "main" radio was holding a run frequency.  
Never in the history of the single operator category has there 
been a restriction on the number of radios/transmitters that 
a station could use as long as only one signal was on the air 
at a time and that is the way is should remain.  

Shelby, I am absolutely shocked and disgusted that you would 
even consider  an action of this nature for a contest sponsored 
by NCJ.  NCJ has always been about extending the capabilities 
of both the station and the operator ... getting 110% - always 
trying to improve both the station and operator.  To "exile" 
SOmR operators is just plain wrong ... in the same way as 
refusing to allow "that kind" to move into "your" neighborhood. 

What you are proposing is nothing more than an updated version 
of the school yard game - "if you can't beat them, change the 
rules to exclude them."  If NCJ and ARRL allow this blatant 
discrimination it will mean than NCJ is no longer interested 
in promoting the leading edge of the contest art and I question 
its long term survivability. 

73, 

   ... Joe, W4TV