[UK-CONTEST] HFCC info pls

[Tim-M0BEW]

Thanks Don.
You pretty much covered all I needed to know.
Now I'm more informed I'll send Justin a mail asap volunteering to be a
member.

Tim-M0BEW.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald Field" <g3xtt at lineone.net>
To: "Tim-M0BEW" <m0bew at blueyonder.co.uk>; <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 9:59 AM
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] HFCC info pls


> Tim et al
>
> This is probably exactly the wrong week to be asking those questions - I
> know Justin G4TSH (Committee Chairman) is up to his ears in preparing for
> the Convention (forum, trophies presentation, lists of claimed scores and
> results, etc, etc). As IOTA Contest Manager I am not a full member, just a
> corresponding member, but I'll try to answer as best I can
>
>  > What positions are within the committee?
>
> Like any committee, the "formal" positions are Chairman and Secretary.
Other
> jobs are allocated as appropriate.
>
> > Who is responsible for what tasks?
>
> Generally, like any group of volunteers, anyone who is to slow to take a
> step backwards when a job comes up. The main job of the Committee for many
> years has been to adjudicate contests, provide the results for RadCom and
> organise the certificates. These have been so time-consuming (as one of my
> old non-ham colleagues used to say - I can understand why you hams take
part
> in these contests, but why would anyone in their right mind volunteer to
> adjudicate them!), so the Committee has had little or no time to focus on
> philosophical questions of where contesting is going, whether adjudciation
> criteria should evolve over time, etc. I will be doing a short
presentation
> at the Forum this year about developments in computer-supported
adjudication
> which, hopefully, will free up more volunteer time to focus on the bigger
> questions. But it isn't going to happen overnight.
>
> > How does someone become a member of the committee?
>
> Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer.
>
> > What qualifies someone to be a member?
>
> Willingness to take on some of the tasks that need to be done. As I said,
> this is cvery much a working committee.
>
> > Is it all fully 100% voluntary?
>
> Yes. You didn't actually ask about budgets (surprising omission!). The
HFCC
> is allocated a budget each year by RSGB. This covers travel expenses to
> meetings, cost of getting trophies engraved (and mailed, where
appropriate),
> certificate printing and mailing, etc, etc. I called on a substantial
> percentage this year to help with the cost of printing and mailing the
IOTA
> results booklet (which also promoted the Jubilee contest and the IOTA
Awards
> Programme). HFCC hasa  good track record of working within its budget.
>
> > How many times and where do they hold meetings?
>
> These days, once or twice a year, to save travel costs (see above). Most
> work is done by e-mail. Most contests are allocated to a single volunteer
to
> manage - he can call on other committee members (or, indeed, as I do with
> IOTA, ask for volunteers from a wider audience) as and when he feels he
> needs to.
>
> > How are decisions made?
>
> What decisions? For example, on IOTA contest rules, the Committee will
> listen to what I have to say, and overrule if they think I am being
stupid,
> but generally, as I am closest to the contest, they support my
> recommendations. On "bigger" issues, like starting a new contest or
dropping
> an existing one, it is by vote in the Committee after a discussion (again,
> like pretty much every committee in the world). As with most things in the
> world, many decisions are driven by resources. If volunteers aren't
> forthcoming, something will have to go undone. The HFCC Website is
probably
> a good example - much more could be done with it, but Website upkeep is a
> major chore.
>
> > Are there minutes taken at the meetings and are they publicly available?
> (to
> > see who was for and against what and why)
>
> Yes, and no (I don't know of any voluntary organisation that publishes
> Minutes of every committee meeting - most restrict themselves to
publishing
> the AGM minutes. Publishing minutes just generates more work as they are
> usually succint and will only generate more questions if they appear in
> public. They). The minutes certainly don't record exactly who voted for
and
> against anything, just whether a decision was made, and who was actioned
to
> carry it out. This is normal practice in most such committees.
>
> > What were their Aims and Objectives for 02/03?
> >
> They should have appeared in RadCom - Justin will no doubt be able to
answer
> when he surfaces. They are in the annual report.
>
> >
> > It's very unlikely I'll be at the convention this year, I had a whole
> bunch
> > of stuff to ask hence the post here.
> > It's a shame as it looks like a great weekend.
> > Enjoy.
> >
> Pity. It's the major event in the year for competitive HF ops (i.e. DXers
> and contesters). Bad planning!
>
> The thing to remember about the HFCC, like any other similar committee, is
> that most of the members are either working full time and therefore have
to
> squeeze their voluntary efforts in, or are retired and therefore old and
> doddery (like me!). HFCC business is time consuming. I only agreed to take
> on IOTA because I had recently taking early retirement. I would guess this
> year (last year was worse, as I had to do most things manually), it is
> taking 10-20 hours a week, from when the contest took place, probably
> through to about December when I put the RadCom write-up to bed (and after
> that there will be certificates and trophies to think about, etc.). I
don't
> get paid - I get expenses (posting paper logs to those who volunteer to
type
> them up, etc, etc), but probably end up out of pocket (phone calls,
computer
> costs, etc.). By the way, I need a volunteer to help organise trophy
donors,
> engraving, etc, etc for IOTA - anyone willing to step forward? Even if
each
> IOTA log takes only 15 minutes of my time, that's 300 hours gone
> immediately - some take a lot more! I'd love to spend more time on each
> one - many entrants put thoughtful little comments in the log (which I
have
> to find and edit out, or the computer rejects the log!), many make an
effort
> to find some new and previously undiscovered log format, to enliven my
day,
> about 30% forget to give full details of their category, or simply assume
> every contest in the world is exactly like CQWW and use the defaults for
> that one, many send their cover e-mail and forget the attachments ... (I
> could go on, but won't bore you). I'm sure all HFCC members and
> corresponding members have similar tales to tell, I'm simply using IOTA as
> the example I know!
>
> 73 Don G3XTT
> IOTA Contest Manager
>
>
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