[VHFcontesting] APRS and Contesting

[Nate Duehr]

The portion you're looking at ONLY applies to Single-Operator High- 
Power stations, the 2.1 section.  NOT to any other station types.

Other station types are more than welcome to use spotting networks.   
There are only two instances of the word "spotting" and they both are  
in the Single-Op section.

I *DID* read the rules.  i said Multi-Ops could use the Internet today.

Did you know that Multi-Ops are allowed to using spotting networks  
and perhaps if you operated as a single-op, are banned from doing so?

You missed what section of the rules you were reading.

Nate WY0X


p.s.

For those who would like to avoid the utter hell that consists of  
someone's idea of logic in laying out the ARRL Contesting website...  
I'll answer this...

Where are the general rules for VHF located?

So let's pretend I was looking for it... I start here...
http://www.arrl.org/contests/

Makes sense, right?

Click on June.  Hey, I know it's a June contest.

Click on VHF QSO Party.  Yep, that's the one!

But wait, that's the subset of rules that make up the June contest,  
but no link anywhere to the overlying VHF rules.  Nice.

Maybe it's this link to "General Rules" link at the top of the document?

Nope, takes me back to the document above.

Circular logic.  Great.

Since I happen to know K3LFO says there's a VHF specific document  
that I haven't found yet... and since I've read it before...   
Great... Let's go hunting.

Back to the top... Can't find any links from that main page of / 
contests/ to anything that says it's General VHF rules.   Okay.

Then you look REALLY closely and realize there's this stupid  
parenthetical comment "(and contest-specific rules)" on the FORMS link.

What the hell?

You start to realize... no, you can't click on the month and the  
contest name to find the right copy of the rules, you have to go this  
path.  In fact, it's likely that the rules shown under the monthly  
section aren't even the correct ones.  They're not even the same  
document.  Nice ARRL.

To find rules, you have to click on FORMS (yeah, that makes freakin'  
sense...) and then on "2007 Contest Rules".

Once in there, you're in a different document than the one linked  
from the monthly stuff... but it has the same title, but.. lo and  
behold, there's now a new mystery link to "VHF Rules".  That's  
awesome.  Take the overall rules and hide them INSIDE a subset of  
rules for a specific contest.  Whoever's laying out that website  
needs an hour, a pen, and a scratch pad, and some knowledge of how a  
formal OUTLINE looks.

I spent 10 minutes finding the document you're referencing...

It should have had this flow:

Contests -> VHF Contests
Then there should be a page with all the contests and a link to the  
overall VHF rules, all visible on one page.

If you go the other route (monthly), it should take you to the VHF  
Contest 2007 rules... which would have a link back to the VHF overall  
rules and General Rules embedded in it.

What a mess.

On Aug 10, 2007, at 4:52 PM, k3lfo wrote:

> You may want to take a look at the rules.  There are three  
> sections ... General Rules,  General Rules for VHF Contests, and  
> Specific Rules for each contest.
>
> The following comes from the General Rules for VHF --
>
> 2.1.3.Use of spotting assistance or nets (operating arrangements  
> involving other individuals, DX-alerting nets, packet, etc) is not  
> permitted.
>
> So, Multi ops can NOT use spotting nets etc.
>
> Also in the main General Rules state--
>
> 3.10. The use of non-Amateur Radio means of communication (for  
> example, Internet or telephone) to solicit a contact (or contacts)  
> during the contest period is not permitted.
>
> This one even disallows the use of a telephone  to solicit contacts.
>
> Both of these rules apply to ALL classes so it does not make the  
> rules "lopsided and arbitrary".
>
> Jim K3LFO/R
>
>
>
>
>
> Nate Duehr wrote:
>> Duane - N9DG wrote:
>>> Somewhere a long the way the whole point of what VHF contesting  
>>> is all about I think has become lost. Are we doing it just to  
>>> rack up big Q counts? Or are we doing it to see what our *weak  
>>> signal* gear, and *ourselves* are capable of achieving for  
>>> cumulative *DX* within a 33 hour period? Or are we now just  
>>> trying to see what our out outside of the shack networking  
>>> capabilities are?
>> Hard to say. It's not defined anywhere. What's the goal of the  
>> contest? The multi-ops are allowed today to use Internet  
>> information sources under the current rules. And yet, Rovers  
>> aren't allowed to use ham radio based networking? Seems lopsided  
>> and arbitrary to allow land-line based communication and  
>> information flow for multi-ops but not to allow digital networks  
>> that are on-air for the rovers, doesn't it? And it's lopsided  
>> because... of the exact question you ask. What is the POINT of the  
>> contest? If it's "to communicate"... pretty much anything goes in  
>> that game. If it's to "to communicate only with weak-signal  
>> modes", that's a different game yet. If it's "to communicate with  
>> an odd-ball bunch of limitations for some operators but not for  
>> others using mostly weak signals, but allowing some people access  
>> to other forms of communications"... that's what we have today.  
>> Nate WY0X _______________________________________________  
>> VHFcontesting mailing list VHFcontesting at contesting.com http:// 
>> lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
>

--
Nate Duehr
nate at natetech.com