[UK-CONTEST] Olympics

[Ed -- GW3SQX]

I note from the latest RSGB club news that special Amateur Radio events are
being planned for the Olympics.  Excellent, although I can't help thinking
that the ban on using the word "Olympics" in connection with special event
stations is absurd.  I suppose it exemplifies government thinking that
everything is for sale, even the use of a word which has been in the public
domain for over 100 years (well, over two thousand years if you take the
long view).  Shame!  Anyway, could I please ask that any special prefixes
available are ones which tell the world which "country" a UK station is in
(for example, NOT GQ or GB for everyone).  A simple proposal, which would
not cause too much upset, is to let everyone temporarily use the "Secondary"
identifiers that only clubs can currently use -- GX, GC, GS and so on.

One aspect of the planning which does not fill me with excitement is the
potential resurrection of a contest along the lines of the Jubilee Contest.
By any measure, the Jubilee Contest was an abject failure, despite some
intense publicity, mainly because very few G stations participated, and even
fewer commonwealth stations were interested.  The rest of the world ran out
of stations to work in very short order.  If we are to have a special
contest to celebrate, may I suggest some tweaks to the RSGB's Flagship
event, the IOTA contest, whose dates that year correspond with the start of
the Olympics.  How about some special calls for UK (non-EU005) islands --
G2012A, G2012B, GM2012P, GD2012K and so on, to encourage people to activate
as many of them as possible.

73,

Ed, GW3SQX