[VHFcontesting] Rover Circling Solution [was: ARRL VHF+ contest proposals: input invited]

[John K9IJ]

At 11:07 PM 2/20/2004 -0500, Ev Tupis wrote:
>John K9IJ wrote:
>
>>There are a lot of rovers that squeeze rover activity into other 
>>activities in their busy days. Commuting to and from a work location, for 
>>example. Telling those people that they can only operate a short time, 
>>even though they may be in and out of the car many times over the contest 
>>period, just because they don't live close to a grid boundry, is just 
>>another disincentive to operating rover at all.  We need to 'encourage' 
>>rovers, not discourage them.
>
>Hi John,
>The problem is that a small number of folks ruin the fun for a lot of 
>folks (just like when we were in high school).  In this case, it's west 
>coast rovers.  A few years ago it was a group of east coasters.  In the 
>absence of "dad" stepping in and paddling someone for violating the intent 
>of the rules, all that is left is legislation.
>
>As is the case with legislation, there is "collateral damage".  The art is 
>to craft it in such a way as to minimize it.
>
>In a nutshell, "yes, you are right", but the alternative is to leave 
>things as they are, which the ARRL doesn't seem to be interested in doing.
>
>So far...the proposal on the table is simple, enforcable and has the least 
>amount of collateral damage of any proposal that has been floated (with 
>the assumption that a change in rules is necessary).  Please suggest 
>another alternative.

Ev,

I don't agree and I would bet that the majority of the 'active' rovers 
would disagree also. Going out and doing a tandem rover and grid circling 
is 'fun once'. It's not fun every contest. It's tedious. There are a lot of 
different ways to do a rover operation and in my experience most of the 
rovers try something different every time they go out.

What do the rovers think ?

They're the ones competing in the rover category. Rovers have a lot of 
different motivations and I would bet that a winning score isn't on the top 
of the list for most of them. Improving their score over the last contest, 
yep. Maybe edging out that guy in the next state? Yeah.

I know absolutely that here in the midwest there's absolutely no way that 
we can compete head to head with the east coast and west coast rovers. We 
don't have mountains (or even very big hills) that let us work hundred mile 
qsos on microwaves. That doesn't discourage us from going out and having a 
good time. It doesn't discourage us from spending time, effort and $$$ to 
improve our rovers every year.

I think the rover rules are just fine the way they are. Any of the proposed 
changes, in my mind, are only going to discourage participation by causing 
all those serious rovers (the ones that go out every year, every contest) 
rethink their priorities. There's not a single proposed change that's going 
to excite them, all are disincentives. None of the proposals offer anything 
particular that would entice a prospective rover to join in the fun. In 
effect they all say 'If you aren't going to build a super rover and cover 
hundreds of miles over the weekend, you might just as well not bother'. The 
guy that wants to put the 706 in the car and go out for a couple of hours 
on Saturday and Sunday, between other activities, might as well not bother. 
He has to drive 100 miles on sunday, just to operate. That's incentive? No, 
I don't think so.

John - K9IJ



-

John Rice  K9IJ
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