[UK-CONTEST] QRO

[Peter Bowyer]

G0TPH at aol.com wrote:
>>> You could just as well ban antennas over 60 feet tall, CW  faster
>>> than
> 20wpm,
> or some other arbitrary limit on experimentation.
> Bad  point. Experimentation not required - we already know the result.

True - antennas good, cw speed not.

>
> May I also draw your attention to:
>
> HF General Rule 3 : Entrants must abide by their licence conditions.
> VHF General Rule 1b : Entrants must abide by their licence conditions
> and observe the RSGB/IARU bandplans.
>
> Arbitrary or not, it is a clear rule to me.

Sure. And given that it's completely unenforceable, what's to do?

<speaking personally, not on behalf of any contest committee>

As long as there are enough events and sections of events where escalation 
of power and other forms of equipment are restricted, where's the harm? It's 
a victimless, undetectable and unpreventable crime. And one that the 
authorities don't care about, provided nobody frightens the horses.

(Imagine what Ofcom would be asking for as a license fee if it had to fund 
hoards of inspectors with power meters crawling all over contest stations).

> Not that I'm against QRO though. Just that I would prefer to see  a
> single section in each contest, run what power you like, and you take
> your QSO  score and divide it down by the highest power you used in
> the contest,  to give your final score. The fact that this would
> propel my 5 watt 80m Club  Championship entries way way up the
> rankings has very little to do  with it :-)

Not a bad plan at all, actually. It's already been suggested here that 80m 
CC would benefit if the QRP section attracted double points - that could 
easily be extended into more 'power bands'.

But trying to stem the tide of QRO in the bigger contests is just a recipe 
for banging your head against a very hard brick wall. No amount of hot air 
here or elsewhere will have the slightest effect.

<flame suit on>

Peter G4MJS