[UK-CONTEST] CC 2013 +

[Robert]

Although the propagation reason given as an excuse for delaying  the start of the 2012 CC by a month was flawed it seems to have been accepted and has not resulted in loss of entries albeit with the six month break. However the six month break is a long period of time for contestants who make the CC their one and only contest in the calendar. Any comments ?

The Local and General categories introduced this year looks to be working and I have seen no adverse comments since the initial objections. Comments welcome.

Moving on, three times over this year I have e-mailed the Committee and asked for their thoughts regarding the QRP section. No response. To those that are genuine QRP, well done. there are some good scores. It crosses my mind that  not all QRP stations are running 10 watts and there is an element claiming to be QRP for the points differential. The QRP section requires a re-think.

If you were to have a look at the DX cluster during a CC SSB contest it may possibly surprise you just who is spotting who. Cluster use is not appropriate in any contest. I could have said this before, radio operating is tuning and finding a station, there's the skill. What it is not is using the internet, putting a contact just a click of a mouse away. Where's the skill in that ?  The texting and Skype we can do nothing about, the cluster we can.

How can club ratings be taken seriously ?  The club with the most entrants wins, simple maths. Time for a change, multiple teams with a specified number of operators in each. Fair, but it will never happen, the top clubs will oppose any move in this direction vigorously.

Rules were changed for this years CC and Sprint which resulted in PA members of Ossett ARO not being able to contribute to the groups standings. The committee "bless their little cotton socks" tried to change the rules mid Sprint in 2011 without telling anyone. Our members contribution to the contests were only 1.6% of the logs received and yet they have been excluded. One of our PA members has been with the RSGB for 35 years, you can imagine how annoyed he is at not being able to enter as part of our group. It's a hobby, with no prizes, and as such there is no reason why our continental members cannot be included in the next years contests in the general section for Ossett ARO. What has anybody got to lose ?

I have taken part in all the UKAC Tuesday night contests, all this years CC and Sprint contests plus a few others along the way but I still mostly remain an average contestant giving away points. I do enjoy the contests and judging by the passion shown on this reflector so do many others. 

One last item before resuming the day job, what body of people elects committee members ?

73, good contesting,
Robert. G8BUN/M0JRB and sometimes M0ORO.