[NLRS] June Contest Results

[John P. Toscano]

Mark D. Schields (WB�OAJ) wrote:
> Why do the rules (2.3) state that a rover is "1 or 2 operators"?  This
> past June my family (4 hams) was taking a trip and of course took the
> radios along and worked the contest.  After sending in the log, ARRL
> informed us that we didn't qualify for rover (too many operators) or any
> other entry class either for that matter.  I understand the rules and I
> don't necessarily want to change them.  I would like to understand the
> purpose for the rule.  ARRL has not provided any reasonable answer.  Does
> anybody on the reflector know why?

Mark, I took a look at the rules, and now it looks like I need to go get 
a dose of antacid.  What I found was not what I expected.  I'll explain 
what I mean by that in a minute.

The short answer to your question is "because that's how the rules 
read".  The only slightly more satisfying (?) answer is that the folks 
who made up the rules decided that a single-person rover station puts 
himself/herself in some jeopardy if they try to be maximally 
competitive, due to the danger of paying too much attention to the radio 
and the log sheet instead of to their driving.  So the League set up the 
rules to allow for a second operator.  I guess that they thought that 
having more than two hams operating would provide an unfair advantage to 
a 3-op or 4-op rover station, so they "arbitrarily" set the limit at 2. 
  I once asked the Contest Branch if the rule interpretation was liberal 
enough to allow me to operate an entire contest as a rover under my 
callsign, but to have one ham as my partner on Saturday and a different 
ham as my partner on Sunday.  I figured that at any point in time, there 
would be only 2 of us, and only one callsign, but the Contest Branch 
nixed that idea.  So I guess they are pretty strict about the 1 or 2 ham 
rule.  The rule doesn't say anything about other passengers in the 
vehicle who don't help with the contest, so I would assume that if you 
wanted to bring your kids along to watch/listen, that would be OK, but 
according to the rules, only if they don't operate.

Having said that, I guess I'm surprised they even figured out that there 
was a problem.  Didn't you just submit four logs with four different /R 
callsigns?  How did they know you were all in one vehicle?

The reason I say I now have heartburn after re-reading the rules is that 
it looks to me like the rules are saying that the "family station" rule 
DOES NOT APPLY TO ROVER STATIONS!  According to what I see in the rules, 
not even a husband/wife team or for that matter, ANY TWO family members 
can make QSO's with 2 callsigns from a single rover vehicle!!!  This is 
contradictory to what I know has been practiced by several family 
(2-person) teams before.

Here's the quotes I'm going by...

 > General Rules for All ARRL Contests
 > ===================================
 > 1. Precedence of Rules:
 >
 > 1.1. Rules for individual contests or events, including Field Day,
 > take precedence over all General Rules.
 >
 > 1.2. General Rules for HF and VHF contests take precedence over
 > General Rules for all contests.

(No surprises there, but you need to know this to deal with what comes 
next...)

 > 3.5. A transmitter used to contact one or more stations may not be
 > subsequently used under any other call during the contest period,
 > except for family stations where more than one call has been issued,
 > and then only if the second call sign is used by a different operator.
 > (The intent of this rule is to accommodate family members who must
 > share a rig, and to prohibit manufactured or artificial contacts.)

(This is the "family station" rule that allows all members of a family 
to share a single set of station equipment, unless otherwise prohibited, 
as it appears to be in the next set of rules...)

 > General Rules for ARRL Contests on Bands Above 50 MHz
 > =====================================================
 > 2.3. Rover: One or two operators of a single station that moves among 
 > two or more grid squares during the course of a contest.

(That is the definition of a rover station that Mark referred to, and 
which was apparently quoted back to him by ARRL Contest Branch.  Only 
ONE or TWO operators allowed.  It seems like it unambiguously settles 
the question against a 4-ham family group in a single rover vehicle.)

 > 2.3.1. A rover vehicle may transport only one station using a single
 > call sign.
 >
 > 2.3.2. A rover may not operate with more than one call sign.

(Here's where I get even more heartburn.  This pair of rules, which take 
precedence over the "General Rules", seems to FORBID even a 2-ham family 
station from operating from a single rover vehicle under the "family 
station" provision.  I don't feel like asking the Contest Branch for an 
interpretation, as the rules look awfully explicit, and I would be 
shocked if their interpretation would be broader than mine, especially 
in view of Mark's recent interaction with them.)

Oh well, I have no family members with amateur radio licenses, so I'm 
off the hook...

Getting back to Mark's original posting, I think that what he's asking 
for would require a change to the rules, but I *ALSO* think that this 
would be a GOOD THING rather than a bad thing.

The rules should serve the Amateur Community, not the other way around. 
  I think that it is good for Amateur Radio to encourage families to 
engage in Ham Radio as a family, even in a contest situation.  Given the 
dynamics of most families, I seriously doubt that a situation would 
likely arise where one would encounter a family of "hard-core 
contesters" who would run a 3-ham or 4-ham rover station to an unfair 
advantage over the rest of the competitors.  I think it's far more 
likely that you would see a family operating more like Mark described -- 
out for a family drive, having some fun making contacts during a contest 
with shared equipment, for the enjoyment of it all rather than to rack 
up a huge score.  So a petition to the league for a rule change seems to 
be in order: (a) at a minimum, alow the "family station" provision to 
apply to rovers, i.e. if 2 family members rove in one vehicle, they can 
each make QSO's under their callsign; (b) further, to support Mark's 
family-style rover experience, perhaps an additional rule saying 
something like "More than two operators may work from a single rover 
station only if all the operators are members of the same family.  In 
such a case all of them may participate from the single rover station 
with each of their unique callsigns, however they may not put more than 
two simultaneous signals on the air (on different bands) at any one 
time".  That would prevent abuse of the rules by not allowing 10 family 
members to pack themselves into a school bus and operate a full multi-op 
10-band operation with each operator on a separate radio disguised as a 
rover station.  (As if that's likely to ever happen!)

73 de W�JT