[UK-CONTEST] IOTA - A Gentlemanly Contest?

[MM0BQI]

Don Beattie wrote.
>Is it just my imagination, or is there a marked absence of the very wide,
>over-modulated, objectionable signals in the IOTA Contest ? It seems
>somewhat more gentlemanly a contest?

Must have been  local conditions Don, the 'Alpha Jockeys' were out in force
from what we could hear!
Seems that IOTA has its share of must win at any cost contesters.
Checking through our contest notes and various cluster information certainly
gives the impression of rule breaking.
Stations disregarding the no Qs above 14.300 rule.  Did it not occur to them
to think why there were no other contest stations round about them calling
CQ?
Stations calling CQ on two bands at the same time.
Cheerleaders spotting away enthusiastically on the cluster.
There is one group that takes its five MPs and five Alphas off to the
islands for the contest. Are MPs and Alphas that unreliable that they need
three spares or do they choose to interpret the rules differently?

There is a view that running 2 kW is okay during a contest.  All you are
doing is competing on an even footing with the guys from SE Europe who can
run QRO legally, and besides everyone does it!
Well not everyone does it and it has a direct effect on those who don't. If
you compete in the high power section with your 400w and the station along
the road uses 1kW you are being cheated and no amount of  excuses like
'everybody does it'  can change that.  Not only are those in the same
section being cheated out of their position in the results but it
disadvantages all other stations.  It is very hard to be heard when you are
surrounded by 'Alpha Jockeys' or even worse when the 'Alpha Jock' forces you
off your run frequency.  It was interesting listening to some of those
stations who were LOUD asking for repeats because they had problems hearing
the calling stations.  We all have QRM and QRN  to deal with but they seemed
to suffer more than most!  Maybe their antennas work better on transmit than
on receive?

It would be great to see some changes in the rules to accommodate those who
wish to cheat.  We could have an additional category called 'High Power
Plus' where there are only vague rules so it is up to the entrant how they
participate.

Having got the above off my chest I would like to say that IOTA is still my
favourite contest. This year we doubled our points total but still had huge
problems being heard from northern latitudes with 100w and a bit wire (our
choice of site and section!).  Maybe it is time to review the rules
concerning the number of transmitters.  Is IOTA big enough now to have a
multi-two and a multi-multi section? The fact that the rules governing the
run and mult station are vague and un-enforceable maybe there is an
opportunity for change and progress?

73
Jim,  MM0BQI
MM0Q from the sunny Summer Isles.

PS. Did anyone else notice the increase of UK stations calling with last two
only?