[UK-CONTEST] BERU and the DX-Cluster

[Nigel G3TXF]

Hullo Peter,

Not surprisingly perhaps, I'm not too happy with the generalised "cheats"
description of DX-Cluster users.

Computers, the Internet and the DX-Cluster are all an integral part of the
hobby of Amateur Radio in the 2006.

You may choose to use paper logging and not to use the Internet. That's your
choice. Cluster users are not however, de facto, cheats. My part-time
178-QSO BERU log is submitted as a CHECK LOG simply because there is
currently no category in the rules of this contest for Multi-Op or Assisted
Op logs. Who's cheating? I still enjoy making the QSOs in BERU, even though
there's no published "score".

As noted by others, "participation by part-timers" is the key to the success
of any contest. They provide the QSO volumes - the QSO fodder. Actively
discouraging Cluster users from making QSOs in BERU seems
counter-productive.

Hence the requests made, over a number of years, that the BERU rules be
altered to provide a category into which scored Cluster-assisted (and not
"cheat", please) logs can be submitted.

73 - Nigel G3TXF


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Hobbs" <peter at tilgate.co.uk>
To: "UK Contest reflector" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 2:23 PM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Fw: Commonwealth Contest.


> John,
>
> It IS the Commonwealth contest and has been these many years.  It's just
> that "BERU" trips off the key rather neatly and has continued to be the
> norm, except for the one station I heard using CC (and we all know who
> that
> was), which of course led us all to thinking that over-consumption had
> caused him to get the day/time/band for one of the Club Championship
> event(s) wrong . . .
>
> I throughly support your comments on use of the "cluster", which of course
> is just blatant cheating and defeats the whole purpose, however I always
> thought (never investigated it myself) the cluster was accessed by logging
> on to some VHF portal, rather than necessarily on-line, so I'm not
> entirely
> sure if your rationale relating to computer operating is the whole story.
> No objection of course to a properly identified "cheats" category in the
> results of any contest.
>
> Peter G3LET
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "john ellerton" <jae at beeb.net>
> To: "UK CONTEST" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
>
> I have long thought , and have consequently kept out of this contest,
> that the term BERU must be like a red rag to a bull to anyone overseas.
> No wonder they don't want to continue taking part.   Ditching BERU and
> replacing it with a new, "re-sold "  commonwealth contest must be a
> priority.  After all the BE has long gone, and presumably the RU with
> it !  And by the way, please not cluster!   I thought these were Radio
> contests , not computer operating contests.
>
> 73 John G3NCN
>
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