[Lowfer] FMT

[John Andrews]

Bob's message about the FMT brings something to mind. Those of us who did
the FMT regularly up to its demise in 1980 were pretty scrupulous about not
discussing our results until the deadline had passed for submission to ARRL.
This was an attempt to preserve the "honesty" of the competition.

The ARRL, in its infinite wisdom, has chosen to make the deadline for
submission as ONE MONTH after the FMT! I therefore assume that they will not
publish the umpire's results until after December 6.

Email was not a common thing in 1980, and communication between FMT
participants was pretty much one-to-one, either over the air or over the
phone. I hope that enthusiasm for the resumption of the competition is
tempered by the realities of email and mail lists such as this one.

Personally, I think the problem will surface elsewhere, and probably cause
the ARRL to re-think the "competition" part of the FMT. I'd be just as happy
if nobody submitted anything, and just compared their success with results
posted on the ARRL website the next day. But if and until they change the
rules, we should stay within the bounds of propriety.

John Andrews, W1TAG