[VHFcontesting] Notes and observations

[Steve Clifford]

I've been reading through all of the hoopla and have a few comments.

1.  I am glad the ARRL did at least address the higher band issue with
regard to LR.  The lunchbox portable microwave stations really do make a
mockery of the concept of "limited" roving.

2.  I am completely disgusted that the ARRL didn't do a thing about the
circling/pack groups (I don't care what you call it... its still a multi-op
effort).  The whole reason they established Limited and Unlimited was to
make a distinction between truly limited operators and those who operate
without limits.  They established the categories but have absolutely failed
to make the distinctions real.  In fact, they have incentivized pack roving
for both classic and limited rover by the current rules.

3.  Those who complain that a small number seem to be the only ones
complaining have missed the point.  There are only a small number of us
complaining because there are only a small number of us whom this affects.
If the rules allowed multi-op groups to compete directly against single ops,
the number of complainers would jump rather dramatically.

4.  Why does the VUAC even exist?  Can somebody explain this to me?  It
sounds like a great idea.  The rule makers at the ARRL obviously are not VHF
contesters and certainly not rovers so it would make sense to have a
committee to come up with ways of improving the rules for those that do
participate in these contests.  If however, the rule makers just ignore the
recommendations, why bother?

5.  Many on this reflector seem to be arguing against current reality.  We
keep hearing from the same few guys about winning roving strategies and
denial of circling.  What they always fail to note is that Unlimited Rover
exists for a reason.  They never address that reason, nor the reason classic
and Limited exist.  I would love to hear one of these guys explain why
Unlimited exists.  Who should be in that category?  What sets that category
apart from the other two?  Why was it set apart from the other two in the
first place?

6.  I'm going to start lobbying to have single op and multi-op categories
combined.  If its OK for multi-op rovers to compete against single rovers,
why should it be any different for fixed stations?  After all, its just
about a winning strategy, right?  Winners work together in groups... or so
I've heard.

Steve
K4GUN/R