[VHFcontesting] Contesting ethics for rovers

[Marshall Williams]

Hello to all....I was one of those that pushed the VUAC hard for the 
"Family Rule" to be specifically allowed in the rules.  This because I 
have a father with 3 sons(ages like 9, 11, and 12) all of whom had 
calls.  The old rules, as intrepreted by the ARRL functionary at the 
time, essentially forced two of the sons to stay home.  This was a 
ridiculous result....how do you tell two of your ham sons that they 
can't go?? 

The concept behind the "Family Rule" is to allow each ham in a "Family" 
to make contacts during a contest using common equipment.  The specific 
inclusion of the "Family Rule" creates an "exemption" that also covers 
the "two operator" problem / rule.  So far, so good..

In the VHF / UHF world, we have a very definite and rigid definition of 
a contact.  Each party to a contact must send AND receive his call, the 
other call, a signal report or grid, and a Roger.  That definition is 
long standing, agreed to by all serious VHF / UHF operators(at least all 
that I have ever known), and has served us very well.  The problem that 
I see with the idea of using the common equipment to work others in the 
same rover, is that you cannot receive ANY of the information that you 
are supposed to receive.  I suppose you could somehow set up a station 
that could receive and transmit simultaneously, so I suppose even this 
"hurdle" could be overcome. 

All that being said, using the common gear to "work" the other calls in 
the vehicle, seems to be pretty convoluted.  I don't think anyone 
envisioned that as a possibility.  It may be that this practice is not 
specifically outlawed and therefore, using the logic of the grid 
circlers, you can do it.  Still, I think this would be stretching the 
rubber band pretty tight.  Others may disagree....your mileage may 
vary.  73's to all.  Marshall K5QE