[VHFcontesting] Entering as a Mobile (/M) in Contests

[James Duffey]

Mike - I guess I was not clear enough in my original response to Pete’s lament about mobile operation. Neither Pete nor I are necessarily advocating for a new mobile category. Rather he is advocating that mobile stations be allowed to enter the contest even if they only go to one grid. They can’t now. 

The issue is that there is no category that a mobile station who stays in a single grid can enter. The mobile cannot enter as a rover, as the rules require that a rover travel to two or more grids. The mobile cannot enter as a single op station as that requires that the station to not change locations during the contest period outside of an original 500-meter diameter permitted circle. So there is no category for the mobile to enter who travels more than 500 meters from his original location and stays in one grid. But it can be done. 

That is the problem. Mobiles should be allowed to enter the contest. With the rules written the way they are now, they cannot. A rules change is required. That may or may not require a new category, but it does require some action on the part of the ARRL contest manager to interpret the current rules so that mobiles can enter or on the PSC to direct that rules be written so that mobiles can enter or the Ad Hoc committee could make a recommendation. If one wants to grow the VHF contests, and one expects that at least part of that growth will come from FM operators, then mobiles need a mechanism to enter the contest. They cannot now. That is the whole point of Pete’s post, not necessarily advocating for a new category. - Duffey KK6MC/r
--
KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM