I just got round to checking the Sport Radio page of the May RadCom so as to transfer to my wall calendar the dates and details of any contests I might be interested in making some contacts in this month. I happened to notice that the exchange for the 144MHz Contest on 15/16 May is RS(T), serial number, grid locator and post code.
Post Code??? What's the point of that? And what if you are operating portable from a hill somewhere and don't have a post code? Daft idea if ever I saw one.
3 comments:
Because it is a postcodes and countries contest. Seems fine to me:
Stations must operate from permanent and substantial buildings located at the main station address as shown on the licence validation document. The spirit of the contest will be paramount.
Stations not operating as a fixed station must use the /P callsign suffix. This does not preclude the use of /A or /M where appropriate.
Lots of possibilities for /P
Lots of people enjoy the challenge, it's a bit like RoPoCo
Agree with you on this one Julian it is just plain stupid. Years ago (Pre SOTA) I was operating /P and was unaware of the contest at the time. Being sat on a mountain and being asked for a postal code is ludicrous. Because I could not give a post code my day out was ruined as it caused too much hassle with the contesters. How on Earth you get a postal code when you are /P is beyond me. I have had the same problem when /M when I wanted to work stations but could not give them a locator and just what postal code do you give while travelling at 70mph down a motorway (wife driving).
The plan here is to encourage activity from all of the UK by having the first two letters of post codes as a multiplier. People outside of SE England suggest that "normal" locator exchanges weight contests against them and that this redresses the balance. You would just send "CA" if you were at home or on a local hilltop...
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