[VHFcontesting] More Roving

[k4gun at comcast.net]

I think we may be making this a LOT more complicated than it needs to be.  The 4 point issue wouldn't be an issue were it not for the grid squaring.  They couldn't possibly make enough contacts on the microwave bands if they were not with a group.  I think two very minor additions to the rules would clear things up pretty quickly: 



1.  Limited Rover limited to 10 contacts with any single other rover.  Classic Rover limited to 20. 



2.  Limited and Classic Rover shall not participate in group efforts intended to coordinate contacts over multiple grids with other rovers. 



Yes, I know that second one is a bit vague, but that's intentional.  Its a catch-all to allow the ARRL to make determinations when somebody tries to wiggle through a loophole.  There's more than one of those in the rules already.  One more can only help. 



The first one might do the trick by itself.  Without traveling together, I think its pretty hard to make more than those limits anyway.  Having the current 100 contact limit is just ridiculous. 



Steve 

K4GUN/R 




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Duffey" <jamesduffey at comcast.net> 
To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com 
Cc: "James Duffey" <jamesduffey at comcast.net>, "frank bechdoldt" <k3uhf at hotmail.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 11:29:52 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [VHFcontesting] More Roving 

Frank - You wrote: 

        To answer James’s question : The issue is more the manipulation of   
the rules and lack of forethought in the creation of the rules. That          
being taking something that was meant to encourage new people to our   
sport and manipulating it to work as a team to win all three classes            
roving. This is like having Bobbie Fisher showing up to the elementary   
school chess club and beating all the 8 year old kids in 5 moves         and   
using the results to declare himself national champ. That being said   
I’m sure some would compete in a limited fashion just to see how         far   
they could go, So it needs to be limited at or below 1.3 ghz. That’s   
where the commercial stuff is and that what the class was made         for.   
This would not punish the microwave people. They are not beginners. 
        The process of healing of ALL contesting will begin with open logs. 


I am not sure that the VUAC thought of the limited class exclusively   
to attract Joe 706 pack to contesting, but rather to form a class   
where one would not need significant resources to compete effectively   
as a rover. A four band and a 160 Watt limitation pretty well defines   
the upper limit of what one can spend on a rove and still drive around   
in a street legal vehicle. While I am sure that the VUAC did not   
contemplate a limited rover  operating solely on the microwave bands   
while roving, they did nothing to prevent that in the rules. Now that   
has happened they can reconsider hte rule, if it should be changed and   
if something should be changed, what. 


Rules are rules. One either follows the rules or he disregards them.   
If one can follow the rules and not get the expected results then the   
rules need to be changed. But one should not blame the one who is   
following the rules. 


There are lots of ways to deal with grid squaring. The current attempt   
was a good start. It is not perfect, nor did the VUAC expect it to be.   
It can be made to work. There are other alternatives. I outlined some   
of them in a previous e-mail. 


No matter what we think of the present situation, it does no good to   
complain without suggesting a viable alternative. Suggesting that   
someone do something is not very valuable. Suggesting what   
specifically they should do is a much more valuable contribution to   
the sport. If you don't like the current state of affairs in roving,   
suggest specific alternatives that will fix the problem without   
introducing new problems. - Duffey 


-- 
KK6MC 
James Duffey 
Cedar Crest NM 





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