[Moon-net] "assisted" operating

[Eric B. Norris]

Dear Moonbouncers:

I must confess to some horror when I read the moon-net digest today after
making (for me) an all-out effort in the contest this weekend.
Self-spotting is not permitted on the logger?  Then what does "assisted"
category mean?  There are stations announcing their frequencies and time of
operation in emails to this list, but they are operating unassisted?  This
makes no sense!  A large station will have the signal to keep others off
their frequency.  A pipsqueak like me will just get run over.  

I used to operate the contest years ago on CW, before the days of Ping
Jockey, etc.  I would carefully scan the band for CW signals, and a great
contest for me was more than 4 stations worked in hours and hours and hours
of operating.  It got to be too frustrating.  This weekend I worked 20
stations on JT65, and had a great time doing it.  But it's still hard enough
for me, even using the logger.  I am engulfed in noise.  My antenna is blind
for 1/3 of the moon pass.  I say leave those of us who want to have some fun
but make enough contacts to do that to the logger to use it as we please, if
you don't want to more power to you, but spreading the same info via email
doesn't really seem unassisted to me.

One point--I was trying hard to decode a station calling me this weekend.  I
didn't know who it was.  Then someone else on the logger copied his
reception of the call to the logger--this would have blown the contact for
me except that I decoded the call a few moments before it was posted.
PLEASE, don't do this!    

This year I'll be submitting my logs for the contest for the first time
because I'm proud of my effort so far.  If I'm violating the rules for the
contest openly, then it's because I think they need to be changed and
adapted to the unique world of EME, especially for smaller stations.  I'm
sure my results will not be a threat to anyone.

Thanks, and I hope to c u on the second weekend.

73,

Eric, WD6DBM
2x17el, 500w