[VHFcontesting] Post-Contest Grid Square Queries

[Chet, N8RA]

Hello Sebastian, 

What is spotting assistance?

I'll take a shot at it. I am not affiliated with the ARRL or CQ mag, just a
guy getting a lot of enjoyment  building up my station and returning to VHF
contesting after a very long absence from it, and trying to tune my
strategies and tactics within the rules and regs of the race. 
Anyone else please feel free to chime in on this. 

Here goes:
For contest purposes, spotting assistance is getting information DURING the
contest about the call, location, exchange, or frequency of a station to
work from some way OTHER than personally listening to them or talking
directly to them yourself on your radio. 

BEFORE the contest, you can use ANY means at your disposal to gather this
info , and/or set up a sked.

When you are talking to them on your radio during the contest as Dave
described, and want to arrange to meet them on another band, that's quite
OK, even for a single operator. You on your radio is the only way to do this
during the contest. 

If you seek or use information about contacts from someone other than that
operator, even if it's on your radio, that's not permitted for the single
operator class. It's not a sin to do so, it just means you are operating in
a different class for the contest and should own up to it. The method of
getting this outside help does not matter, be it from a packet radio
network, internet connection, someone helping you on the air, or a note
passed by your friend listening on another band next to you. An
uncomfortable situation that happens is when a friend on your frequency
wants to help you by telling you the grid square or correct callsign of the
station you are struggling to hear, or where to find that choice multiplier.
That's assistance too, and you honestly cannot act on that info as a single
op.

Hope this is helpful.
73
Chet, N8RA


-----Original Message-----
From: vhfcontesting-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Sebastian
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 10:27 AM
To: VHF Contesting Reflector
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Post-Contest Grid Square Queries

Dave, please don't take this as an accusal, but isn't asking someone during
the contest to move to another band to make a qso considered to be "Use of
spotting assistance"?

I guess what I really want to know is the definition of exactly what
spotting assistance is.

My original question of whether skeds are ok, before AND after a contest,
has not been addressed.  I'm guessing it's ok, since I heard many stations
on 6m ask if the other had 2m or 440, etc.  But if it is ok, IMHO the
definition needs to be made clear.  Don't forget, I'm a contest newbie here.

73 de W4AS
Sebastian

On Jun 19, 2008, at 7:08 AM, David Olean wrote:

> Hello Sebastian,
> I made no contacts above 432 this time around in June, but usually can 
> make 50-75 Qs on 1.2 CW and SSB from my location in SW Maine.
> The way we all do it is to work someone on either six or two and run 
> them up the bands. The six and two ops ask each station worked if they 
> have higher bands and proceed from there.  Single op stations do 
> likewise.
>   Before the limited multi category was established, there was enough 
> random  activity on 1296 so that the guy running that station called 
> CQ periodically, and got answers. There were "activity hours"
> for each band. The limited multi rules caused a big drop in stations 
> active on 1296. That, combined with computer logging, enabled more 
> efficient running up the higher bands (at least for multi op
> stations) The result today is that there are almost no random contacts 
> on the bands above 432 here. They are all sent up after working them 
> on a lower frequency.
>
> 73
> Dave K1WHS
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sebastian" <w4as at bellsouth.net>
> To: "VHF Contesting Reflector" <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Post-Contest Grid Square Queries
>
>
>> First, I admit I'm a newbie when it come to contests of any kind.  As 
>> I've mentioned before, this was the first contest I have ever
>> seriously participated in.   I didn't go in there planning to win
>> anything, just to have fun and work as many stations as possible.  If 
>> I win something, great, if not; I won't be disappointed.  I already 
>> got the fun out of it that I wanted.  My 2 meter & 440 rotor wouldn't 
>> cooperate so I wasn't able to use those bands.
>>
>> Now on to the purpose of this email:
>>
>> 2.1.3. Use of spotting assistance or nets (operating arrangements 
>> involving other individuals, DX-alerting nets, packet, etc) is not 
>> permitted.
>>
>> I'm not a lawyer.  I think the above sentence is very clear. No 
>> outside assistance or arrangements are to be used to work other 
>> stations.
>>
>> My conscience is clear, but I must admit that I didn't dwell on this 
>> rule during the contest.  I didn't feel a need to use DX Sherlock, or 
>> even the DX clusters, because there was already a lot of activity on 
>> the band.  But those stations that claim dozens of contacts on 1.2 
>> GHz and above; you can't expect anyone to believe that those stations 
>> just happened to be on there listening for you.  Now if those 
>> contacts were arranged prior to the contest, does that make them 
>> 'legal'?
>>
>>
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