[VHFcontesting] Internet assistance

[Marshall-K5QE]

Hello Keith and everyone interested in VHF contesting......The CQ WW VHF 
rules are absolutely wonderful.  The CQ contest is far and away the best 
VHF contest that we have.  I know that the HF types go apopletic when 
someone mentions "self spotting", but in the VHF world it is perfectly 
acceptable(except to a few old curmudgeons).  The CQ rules allow self 
spotting  with two very important restrictions:  1)You can spot yourself 
ONLY if you are doing digital EME or digital meteor scatter and 2)When 
you spot yourself, you can spot Call, Frequency, and Sequence ONLY. This 
is very important.  If I spot K5QE 144.142 Second when I am running 
digital EME, then I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who might call me.  When I 
get a good decode, then and only then, will I know who is calling.  This 
feature insures that all the contact information is passed over the 
radio path....thus insuring a valid contact.

The idea of posting Call, Frequency, and Sequence ONLY was called 
Structured Assistance and was the brain child of a well known WA 
VHFer(and most probably others too).  It was not my idea, but I fully 
support this method.  Jay:  Thank you for your support as well.  The 
attempt to get this method into the ARRL contests was blocked by a 
single well-known member of the ARRL's VUAC.  I can self post in the CQ 
contest and suddenly I will get 2-3 new callers.  After I work them and 
call CQ a couple of times, I will post my Call, Frequency, and Sequence 
again.....and 2-3 new callers will appear.

There is a special value to Structured Assistance for meteor scatter.  I 
can post CQ K5QE 50.265MHz First Sequence and have people call me 
directly on .265.  I don't have to sit on 50.260MHz, the calling 
frequency, and send CQ K5QE 265 while I await a call on 50.265MHz.  This 
means that having several stations call on the calling frequency and 
referencing offset frequencies all over the place is now eliminated.  
Sometimes 50.260MHz can get cluttered with several stations trying to 
actually make contacts somewhere else.

The CQ rules allow EVERYONE to look at the Internet reflectors, not just 
Multi-Multi stations.  This too, is very important.  I have posted in 
the past that the ARRL rules strongly discriminate against the single op 
stations.  For some reason, the rules don't allow single ops to do 
ANYTHING.  One wonders why they bother, considering all the restrictions 
that they labor under.  One old curmudgeon in the NE wrote me and said, 
"Single ops are not SUPPOSED to be able to do any of those things".  I 
almost fell off my chair.  From whence do the Antis come up with this 
stuff?????

If everyone keeps working to implement rules similar to the CQ rules, 
maybe they will someday be implemented.  I suspect that the old 
curmudgeons will have to die off first....I am not holding my breath....

See you in the CQ WW VHF contest in July......At least there are a 
decent set of rules working there.....

73 Marshall K5QE
P.S.  As usual, thoughtful emails will be read, considered, and 
answered.  Flames go directly to the bit bucket(the will not pass GO and 
will certainly not get $200).



On 1/22/2013 6:24 PM, Keith Morehouse wrote:
> Multi-op stations can use the internet as long as they don't solicit
> QSO's.  That's the category most ops who use spotting assistance in VHF
> tests enter.
>
> HF contests have a "ASSISTED" category for single ops, which means they can
> monitor spotting nets, ect, but still CAN NOT actively solicit QSO's.
>
> CQWW VHF now has a rule that allows ops to make basic announcements about
> where they are calling CQ, ect.  Personally, I think the ARRL should
> consider adding this rule to their VHF test.
>
> Jay W9RM
>
> Keith J Morehouse
> Managing Partner
> Calmesa Partners G.P.
> Montrose, CO
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 6:16 PM, Gregg Seidl <k9kl at centurytel.net> wrote:
>
>>   I don't understand why there isn't a catagory with internet assistance in
>> the VHF/UHF contests. There should be,most HF tests have them now.
>>
>> I know this is another stry but I really don't get why the EME contest
>> doesn't allow it either.
>>
>> Shouldn't the goal of any contest be to have hams make as many QSO's as
>> possible and then group the stations in similiar catagories to make it as
>> fair as possible to detewrmine a winner?
>>
>> If a ham doesn't want to use internet asistance then don't and only
>> compete against stations who don't want the internet either.
>>
>> Gregg K9KL
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