[UK-CONTEST] Individual Short Contest Callsigns

Mon Mar 1 17:01:55 PST 2010

Ed,

I'm sure you will need some fine-tuning of your rules but I
want to give you a few words of support - I think your
approach makes eminent sense in what is probably a
minefield.

I couldn't resist a few minutes of research on how the
present short calls have been used and I found that 1) very
few of the club short calls have been used at all; 2) most
(but not all) of the very few that have been used have
actually been [mis?]used as a device for an individual to
grab a call.

For what its worth I would suggest a few pointers as you
move forward:

1) review the criteria occasionally to ensure they are not
unnecessarily restrictive; it is not much better that calls
are hoarded by Ofcom;

2) I hope Ofcom (with your help) will be consistent in
assuring that calls are indeed not hoarded but really used

3) Allow use of the short calls in more contests where other
countries are permitting short calls; my favorites would be
WAG, REF, SAC but there are surely many more; amend the
qualifying criteria accordingly

4) Do not allow the short calls in "local", "domestic" and
such contests including the field days.

5) Be somewhat flexible re the qualification criteria for
the first year for those clubs that have seriously used
their existing calls as a club call (i.e. multiop) but show
no pardon for those clubs that have just grabbed and stored
a callsign.

73 Olof G0CKV

-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ed -
GW3SQX
Sent: 01 March 2010 21:07
To: UK-Contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] Individual Short Contest Callsigns

There have been a few questions on the reflector about
individual SCCs.  As
the Contest Committee Chairman, I can answer some of them,
and I have asked
Ofcom for clarification on the ones that I'm not sure about.
The reason
that the Committee is involved at all is that Ofcom have
asked us to "vet"
applications for SCCs, particularly now that there are bound
to be more of
them.

(1)  Why is there a "qualification" -- there wasn't before?

Ofcom were concerned that clubs have been obtaining SCCs and
not (or hardly
ever) using them.  They wanted a simple measure of the fact
that SCC holders
had at least got on the air and achieved something.  This is
easier said
than done, but they were concerned that if individual SCCs
became available,
they might also sit on the shelf gathering dust.  After all,
there are only
520 available, and they thought it was time that some of
them were recycled.

(2)  Why is number of QSOs the qualifying factor, not score?

It's very hard to work out a simple rule that depends on
final score, and
Ofcom didn't want a huge application form.  If a contest has
multipliers,
the final score is generally inflated by the fact that the
winners will
have a lot more multipliers.  In a contest such as WPX,
where 70%
(sometimes more) of your QSOs will also be multipliers, the
score will
be increased by a large factor as a result.  So you can do
extremely
well, but still not achieve a huge score.  Then you have VHF
and UHF contests, where at higher frequencies, 20 QSOs might
be a big
deal, but the distance factor can inflate the leaders'
scores.  If the
qualification criteria don't work, we can go back to Ofcom
and say things
are not operating fairly, and they'll probably be open to
change.

(3)  What am I comparing with in a multi-section contest?

Generally, on HF it would be position in your country, power
level, and
band(s) entered.  IOTA is slightly different, but it would
be the section
you entered.  At VHF/UHF, the section is usually determined
by factors such
as power level and whether portable or not, but your section
is whatever the
results table shows.  Ofcom's idea seemed to be that the
qualification level
was not supposed to exclude people, but to include those who
have made an
effort.  We'll see whether this idea is working after
they've received at a
few applications.

(4)  Why do all SCCs expire at the end of this year, even
those just issued?

This was Ofcom's idea, and they wouldn't be shifted.  I
suppose they think
it makes administration easier.  I would have thought that
it was easier if
the SCCs expired at random, and it would certainly make the
Committee's job
easier if they did.

(5)  Our club has just received a SCC under the old rules.
How can we
possibly qualify by the end of this year?

We've asked Ofcom to allow recently-issued SCC holders to be
able to qualify
pro-rata.  Then a club would only have to qualify in 1.2
contests by the end
of this year (please don't ask!).  I suspect they will also
extend this to
clubs who complain about the fact that they didn't have
sufficient notice
that their long-issued SCC was about to require
qualification, and they
would have to enter a few contests soon.  I'm not very
sympathetic to the
latter case, but I suspect Ofcom's lawyers will tell them
that they should
opt for the easy option.

(6)  Why aren't NFD and SSB Region 1 Field Day included?

These are not contests where SCCs can be used, and the
qualifying list
currently only includes those for which SCCs are available.
This might be
the subject for a later change by Ofcom, and we may suggest
it later.
As far as SCC usage in "local" contests is concerned, there
is quite a
lot of opposition to this, from casual as well as seasoned
contesters.  We
can try to canvass opinion.

(6)  If I use my club's SCC as a single operator, does this
qualify?

The answer ought to be "yes", but Ofcom are a bit resistant.
After all, if
I go to GW8GT and operate single-operator, I am using a
shortish club call,
but it is a genuine single-op entry, and will count in my
SCC application.
Ofcom are happier about usage of foreign calls -- we have
pointed out the
inconsistency, and will let you know.

(7)  If a Contest Committee member applies for an individual
SCC, presumably
it will be automatically approved?

To avoid suggestions of favouritism, the vetting will be
done by a sub-group
from another RSGB Committee.  I had to veto a suggestion
from a Contest
Committee member that we should all get SCCs as a perk of
Committee
membership (shame!)

73,

Ed, GW3SQX
Chairman, RSGB Contest Committee

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