[VHFcontesting] captive rovers = Red Herring

[Hoffman, Mark]

After a fashion, almost ALL rovers (save the rolling hamshack types) borrow
gear from some group or another. That part of the comparison is too broad,
which can be interpreted incorrectly. I think I know where you are going
with this, but don't think it's correct to assume some obligation just
because I use borrowed stuff. 

I still don't see a problem with it. I don't do it myself, but knowing that
it happens should cause one of a couple reactions: 

1) Do the same thing. Send out rovers that are totally dedicated to your
cause. Tell them to work you only. Work them often.
2) Do the similar things. Send out rovers that work you AND others, since it
will benefit the VHF community. Work them often.
3) Don't work Rovers. That way, your ethics can't be questioned.
4) Do nothing about it, and try to force changes to rules to make it
impossible to do it.

#4 has been worked to death here, with LOTS of pro/con argument. It's pretty
clear to me that this is not the route to go, as it stands a greater
potential for harming what's working than to penalize that which isn't. Thus
far, consensus seems to be that rules are OK as they are. What we're facing
is an issue of personality / capability. Either someone doesn't WANT to
participate fully in the spirit of the rules, or they CAN'T due to the
equipment they own. And of that, only one half is doing something even
moderately crappy.

Anyone who contests is motivated towards a winning effort. Remember, though,
winning isn't ALWAYS about the Top-10. Why do something half-assed? I work
on my station all year long, and try to make it the best I can. That effort
pays off, as scores usually go up with that. Same issue with rovers. As the
activity increases, ease of working stations goes up - so goes the incentive
to play more. If I know that I rove in Rochester - there are no less than 3
12-band stations to play with, and a bunch of 10+ band rovers. If I go to
Cleveland, there's only a few. It makes SENSE to rove around Rochester,
then. Scores get bigger. As that dynamic increases, the urge for others to
do it from here increases. That only builds the energy, and really becomes a
really FUN place to be. 

Perhaps we can talk about what it takes to GET that kind of motivation going
in your region. THAT is positive, forward thinking. This argument, while it
has been VERY informative, is like a brick wall. It's starting to hurt me
too much running into it. I'm gonna go build some lasers and start fiddling
around with 474tHz. New band...new points!

Mark, K2AXX
(really, my LAST LAST comments!)


-----Original Message-----
From: Tree [mailto:tree at kkn.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 2:15 PM
To: Hoffman, Mark
Cc: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] captive rovers = Red Herring


On Wed, Jul 30, 2003 at 01:28:47PM -0400, Hoffman, Mark wrote:

> But - I don't believe the issue is GLOBAL. Nor is it as rampant as some
> would wish to paint it. 

Agree.  This is a pretty small number or rovers, but not an insignificant
number of QSOs are being made by them.

> More simply, I think ANYONE who goes out to play VHF+ radio rover should
be
> given much more respect. They take their stuff on the road, whilst we
suffer
> either in homes or fixed positions. They deal with the smokies, weather
> (often it sucks), wear-and-tear on their vehicles, gas, food on the
> road...stuff that sitting in my shack I don't even NEED to know about. All
I
> know, is if I call CQ and a /R calls - I'm very happy to hear them. 

I think the distinction I am making is that a rover that is partially (or
fully)
enabled by a multi-multi, and only works that multi-multi - is a different
case than rovers in general.  Most rovers in general, behave in a way to
make
as many QSOs as they can - with the intent to have fun and/or make as high
of
a score as they can.  Captive rovers only help a speciic station win.

> They should be allowed to play in the community sandbox. If they snub
enough
> people, they just will be sitting alone in the end, wondering why NOBODY
> cares about them. And the hope is, enough shame and they either retire or
> stop doing it. That, my friends, is the best we can hope for. 

Their motivation is the winning effort.  They don't submit their log.  Most
people don't even know who they are (since they don't work other stations).

Tree