[VHFcontesting] Endorse Rover Rules Revisions EXCEPT the 30 Q Limit

[Christopher Burke]

On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 11:00 AM, <vhfcontesting-request at contesting.com>wrote:

> From: Steve Clifford <k4gun.r at gmail.com>
>
> Mike,
>
> I see and understand your point, but I think the CA group has shown that
> they can't be trusted with a long leash.  I'm also a solo rover but as
> Limited one meaning I only have 4 bands.  The chances of me hitting the
> same
> other rover for 30 Q's is remote.
>
> Because of my frustration with the CA group, I was and remain willing to
> lower the limit to 4 for Limited Rover and 10 for Classic Rover.  Yes, that
> would mean I had to stop making Q's with some stations, but its a sacrafice
> I am willing to make.  The only reason I think 30 is a good compromise is
> because of the new 50% rule.  Were it not for that, I think 30 would still
> mean Wayne and the Lunchbox Brigade would make a mockery of the system.
>
> I like the proposed new rules.  I hope they are adopted.  I would encourage
> them to allow Limited Rovers the option of 1.2 GHz, but even that one
> doesn't affect me.
>
> With similar levels of respect,
> Steve
> K4GUN/R
>

First of all, why on earth do we have a hard and fast 100 or 30 QSO rule
when rovers can have different numbers of bands?  A 30 QSO rule affects a
10-band rover more than it would a 4-band rover.  If anything, it should
limit contacts PER BAND, not total contacts.  30 Qs are much harder to get
on 4 bands than on 6 or 10.

Second, the proposed remedy isn't fair.  Let's say a new rover pops up in
your area, Steve, and you accidentally work each other 31 times.  Now for
making a mistake you're going to get put into a new category you never
intended to enter.  That's like saying a QRP portable station that makes a
mistake in their log gets moved to SOHP.  If this crazy 30 QSO rule stays
in, the remedy needs to be that anything over 30 rover to rover Qs just
doesn't count.

Third, I tell you now that 50% rule won't work.  The CA group will just set
up portable fixed stations along the way, then everyone will cry foul that
they took over QRP portable or something.

Fourth, limiting rovers to activating one grid isn't the panacea that Ev
suggests, either.  Lots of people don't work that way.  I'm far more of a
"casual rover" than most of y'all, but that's not how I roll, either.  Yeah,
people can change their strategies but they don't want to.  And they
shouldn't have to just for the sake of a couple guys in California.

There have been a lot of things proposed that put lots of limits on what
rover stations can do.  When somebody says they don't like it, they get
told, "Well, you'll have to deal with it."  Hey, can't we keep this fun for
everybody instead of attacking grid-circlers with cluster bombs?  Sure, we
_might_ get them, but we're sure to take out a lot of other people, too.

All of these things attack the symptoms, not the problems, and some of these
proposals have a lot of unintended consequences.  At the end of the day,
rover stations are still encouraged to travel to as many grids as possible.

Here's what I would propose:

1) Rovers must work a fixed station to get multiplier credit for activating
a new grid.  This doesn't apply to Unlimited Rovers.

2) Rovers don't work other rovers for multiplier credit - you still get your
QSO points, but no mults.  This doesn't apply to Unlimited Rovers.
Multipliers are what makes your score skyrocket - not Qs.  This encourages
rovers to work fixed stations.  (I suspect most rovers are already working
fixed stations primarily and this doesn't affect anyone.  If it does, we
could tweak it.)

3) 50% of fixed station contacts need to be with other fixed stations
(including QRP portable).  Fixed stations that don't adhere to this can be
worked by rovers for QSO points, but not multipliers.  This keeps a grid
circling party from dropping portable stations at waypoints to work the
rovers then pack up and leave.  This can't be that hard to check for, even
if the fixed station doesn't submit a log.  It can't be that hard to figure
out the logs that the call appears in.  If 50% of those logs are other fixed
stations, it's in.  If not, it's out.

If we did this you could still go out and grid circle, but all you would get
are QSO points and no multipliers making grid circling an ineffective
strategy for Limited and Traditional Rovers.  I realize it's kind of
academic, the VUAC will do whatever the VUAC will do, but does this make
sense to anybody else?

73!  Chris N9YH

-- 
Chris Burke
chris at n9yh.com