[VHFcontesting] APRS and Contesting

[Nate Duehr]

On Aug 11, 2007, at 8:06 AM, j999w at aol.com wrote:

> <Yes, but self spotting (which is what APRS would be) is illegal in  
> most
> contests, even in the assisted category.>
>
> BINGO.
>
> "HERE I AM ... WORK ME - WORK ME!"
>
> Put out a decent signal, be a good operator, and we'll find 'ya.
>
> John K9RZZ
> Milwaukee

"CQ Contest, CQ Contest, Whisky Yankey Zero X-Ray, Rover - Delta  
November Seven Zero, Contest.  Oh no, I just gave my grid square, and  
self-spotted and disqualified myself.  I'm going home guys... have  
fun without me."

Ha.  Yeah right.

Or...

"CQ Contest, WY0X Rover DN70, Contest" <- me
"WY0X Rover, nice to hear you in DN70, copy my DM79, W0EEA" <- big gun
(Note: I'm just using EEA as an example, because he's a super guy...  
and he definitely deserves the title "big gun"!)
"Roger your DM79, thanks.  QRZ?  WY0X Rover."
"Hey guys, WY0X Rover is now in DN70 if anyone needs him"

Self-spotting = calling CQ and working big stations.  You even get my  
frequency I'm on, which you don't get on APRS.

The whole argument is pointless.  The contest rules are focused on,  
and favors large multi-op stations, and probably always will be, from  
the sounds of the discussion here.

Making concessions to help Rovers out is met with resistance, even if  
it's truly a ham radio network that's being used to do the helping.

While multiops watch their Internet-based tools for spotting/ 
propagation from their armchairs, pull up the latest radar weather  
map to see where the thunderstorms are going, etc... I'm out driving  
and burning $3/gal gas, navigating, operating, logging, getting  
rained on, and working.

Somehow I think the people to ask if digipeated APRS should be a part  
of the contests would be the people who have their butts in the car  
seats, not the people with their butts in a radio room or trailer.   
But hey, that's just my opinion.

Looking through the discussion, I don't think I saw a single rover  
say they didn't want it... while all the fixed stations are the ones  
saying "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

Plus, as I mentioned two years ago, I got lucky when someone let me  
know digipeated APRS was illegal, days before the contest.  I had  
gotten a number of non-hams interested, had set up a link to  
findu.com and was ready to have a number of them watching along as I  
roved... the week of "what *IS* that thing on your Jeep" questions  
had led to, "you can follow along on this website"... "oh nevermind,  
it's against the rules".  Any excitement/interest generated in that  
group of non-hams was lost...

--
Nate Duehr, WY0X
nate at natetech.com