Topband: FW: ERROR IN ARRL 160M CONTEST RULES ?

Mon Dec 5 12:04:17 EST 2005

Hi dear friends!

First of all thanks to all of you who worked me in the contest this past
weekend. It was great fun. Let's hope the top band conditions keep improving
over the next 2 years.

I had a big problem working NP4A, a section multiplier for me (it also took
some time to get Herb, KV4FZ, but eventually he worked me, probably to get
rid of me, hi). I heard many, many European stations calling, but I never
heard NP4A working any European station. To me it seemed like he
intentionally ignored them. I called many times through the contest, and at
two times the operator came back to me as N4UN, gave a report, and when I
corrected and sent ON4UN ON4UN he kind of ignored it and started calling CQ
again. I had the impression that maybe NP4A thought you could and should not
work Eu and only USA stations. When today I saw his claimed score indicating
ZERO countries, this confirmed my feeling. It was time to read the rules
very carefully. 

FROM ARRL 160M CONTEST RULES:

5. Scoring: 

5.1. QSO Points: 

5.1.1. Two points for QSOs with amateurs in an ARRL/RAC Section. THIS MEANS
I GET 2 POINTS FOR WORKING SATAIONS IN KP4, KV4, KL AND KH, AS THESE ARE IN
A SEPARATE ARRL SECTION

5.1.2. W/VE stations count five points for DX QSOs. NOTHING SAID HERE ABOUT
THE FEW ARRL SECTIONS THAT ARE NOT W OR VE (KV4, KP4, KH6 AND KL7). SO NP4A
APPARENTLY GETS NO POINTS FOR WORKING DX. NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY HE IGNORED ME
AND OTHER DX STATIONS.

5.2. Multipliers: ARRL/RAC Sections (maximum of 80) and DXCC countries (W/VE
participants only). THIS MEANS THAT KV4, KP4, KL7 AND KH6 GET NO MULTIPLIERS
FOR DX, BUT WE (DX) GET A MULTIPLIER TO WORK YOU!

THIS CLEARLY DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!  In my humble opinion 5.1.2 should read
"Stations in an ARRL/RAC sections count 5 points for a DX QSO" and 5.2
should read: "Multipliers: ARRL/RAC Sections (max 80) and DXCC countries
(participants in ARRL/RAC sections only)."

Any comments?

73

John, ON4UN