[PaQSO] Let's shoot the damned 'C/L' horse, whether dead or not !

[w3tdf at juno.com]

Greetings from Grumpy Acres.

Regarding the almost dead issue, I must agree with Blair, Jim, John and
Gene, and whoever
else has voiced their opinions, I cannot understand the 'Strategies', or
Goals of the C/L
operators.  When operating the C/L category you are only doing it for the
benefit of the
rest of us.  There is no competition between C/L set-ups.  For a level
playing field of
competition, all of the competing set-ups would have to be on the same
C/L's.  Now
wouldn't that be rediculous?  So, the bottom line is, you are only
providing multiple mults
to the stations you work, and as mentioned before, probably only one of
them is rare
anyway.  AND, no matter what your score, you won't come away with a
certificate for
either one of the counties.  If you set-up on, or near, the line and use
only the rarest of
the two, you stand a damned good chance of picking up a certificate for
it. Plus, that's 
all that any of us is really interested in anyway, is getting the rare
one.
Hypothetically, let me give an example.  If you are claiming to be on the
Brown and Purple
County line, and I work you, then I get two for one, right?  So, I enter
both counties in my
log. Personally, I don't give a hoot whether you are on the line or a
MILE from it.  It doesn't 
matter to me.  There aren't any C/L cops out there checking up on you,
just like there
aren't any QRP cops out there checking up on those folks. It's all a
matter of pride and
honesty.  You could claim to be in the county somewhere across the state,
when actually
you're in the one right next to me and I probably wouldn't be able to
tell the difference.
I've been doing portable in rare counties for 16 years. I have a stack of
certificates, and 
even a few plaques. I am proud of the accomplishments.  I put up a
quality, well organized
and efficient station, so I consistently break records.  I have worked
numerous C/L set-ups
over the years and can safely say that I worked the separate counties in
the same contests
in at least 80% of them.
So, I personally don't care if Nittany keeps or deletes the C/L category.
 I'm also opposed
to echolink broadcasts, RTTY, PK-31 and packet cluster. But, again, -
whatever floats your
boat.
If you got this far, Thanks for listening, (or should I say reading).
de
The Grump.