Character

Is what you decide to do when when no-one else will know.

PVRC (Potomac Valley Radio Club) leadership took it upon themselves yesterday to relinquish the hard fought 2006 November Sweepstakes club championship gavel. It seems that there is a geographical rule that all participants of any given club must all reside within an imaginary circle having a 175 mile radius. There apparently was some sort of violation of this rule that was brought to light within the PVRC ranks which precipitated this move. A class act making me proud to be part of this organization.

A little history. Radio contesting is alot like Grand Prix car racing. There is one track on which all the competing cars take to at the same time. There are many races going on within the big "race" where different classes, teams, and point standings are all competing within their respective groups. The Ferrari's are not racing against the Volkswagen Bugs, though they are on the track at the same time.

When a radio contest starts, everyone takes to the air to contact (and out contact) as many other hams as possible. But, like the Grand Prix, many competitions are going on at once. Throw all the manners your mother taught you right out the window. Its dog-eat-dog. Anyway, One of these "sub contests" is the club competition. Members of different clubs throw their final score in one big pool of fellow members with the object being the club with the most overall points wins.

PVRC was declared the winner for the 2006 Fall competition, but has shown immense character by declaring a self discovered foul passing the gavel to previously second place finisher NCCC (Northern California Contest Club)

I'm sure there will be plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking on this issue in the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping by! 73 CUL Marty / W4MY