[UK-CONTEST] RSGB membership

[Don Field]

To answer Steve's question, one of the reasons this discussion has
resurfaced recently is that we (the Contests Committee) now have acess
to membership records. Previously we largely had to rely on the
honesty of entrants. This came to something of a head last year when
preparing trophies for presentation at HFC, as it turned out that two
potential trophy winners were not RSGB members! That said, one issue
has already surfaced, which is that some entrants submit logs under a
callsign different to that on the RSGB database (because they have
upgraded, for example), so don't be surprised if you get an email
asking for confirmation.

Although at least one correspondent on here has argued that the
criteria for club events (AFS, VHF AFS, 80m CC, Field Days) should be
the same, there is no actual reason why this should be, other than for
the avoidance of possible confusion. Each event has arisen for
different reasons and with different aims. If we opened them all up to
non-members, there would be somewhat less of an incentive to be a
Society member (though, hopefully, for reasons that have been spelled
out on here by others, any amateur who is at all active, would see
lots of reasons for joining the RSGB. The various membership
concessions generally make it affordable for youngsters and oldies (is
this ageist?) - back when I got my licence at 16, a full licence meant
paying the full whack!). And, as has been pointed out, membership fees
cover aspects such as certificates, engraving or trophies, etc.

This is, though, a good opportunity to mention that the Contest
Committee will be holding its annual face to face meeting in late
April. We have, as always, a busy agenda, discussing contest rules,
future software developments, the harmonisation of adjudication
criteria, etc. But it is an opportunity to feed in any suggestion,
gripes, etc. that you may have - probably best not to fill up this
reflector but if you do post here, please also copy to me or to G3UFY
(committee secretary) directly, as I see so many reflector postings
(not just this one) that they may well pass me by.

Don G3XTT
Contest Committee Chairman

2009/2/15 Steve White <g3zvw at talktalk.net>
>
> The debate about whether individuals taking part in the Club Championships
> should or should not need to be members of RSGB has ben running on here for
> quite some time now, but so far I have not seen anyone ask the following
> question...
>
> Do the adjudicators of Club Champs (and other RSGB events) have access to
> membership records and check that all entrants are indeed members?
>
> Steve, G3ZVW (member of RSGB since 1970)
>
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