[MiQP-Mail] APRS ?

[David Pruett]

All,

There has been zero discussion on the reflector or sent to the MiQP 
committee about the use of ARPS in MiQP prior to K8MR's e-mail today.  
This would be a useful discussion if it were six months or a year ago.  
But since it is a week before the contest, it's too late for 2013.

As K9TM pointed out, the MiQP rules that are in place prohibit self 
spotting.  If APRS is used to broadcast information about the station 
(current frequency/mode, county, etc.), then it is self spotting.  And 
if it isn't helping you make QSOs in MiQP, why bother?

So the use of APRS to self spot is prohibited in the 2013 MiQP.  End of 
discussion.  The committee will have a discussion about APRS and there 
will be a definitive decision for the 2014 MiQP.

BTW, the use of any sort of self spotting is not a question of "modern 
technology" vs. "old school".  The fundamental question, at least from 
my viewpoint, is a question of equality and fairness. MIchigan is a 
state which is largely rural; I know this first hand, having operated 
MiQP mobile from every one of its 83 counties over a four year period.  
I suspect there are large areas of the state where continuous Internet 
or PacketCluster service is not available, which puts a number of MiQP 
single-op competitors at a significant disadvantage from the very 
start.  The benefits to the contest of allowing packet have to be judged 
carefully vs. the uneven competitive landscape it would create.  And 
that's the committee's job.

OhQP allows packet use and self-spotting by single ops.  As an 
out-of-state station, I used APRS to follow K9TM/m in the 2012 OhQP as 
they mobiled around the state and APRS was much less useful than I 
thought it would be.  Many times the system lagged behind and K9TM/m 
would be almost out of a county before the APRS status even showed their 
presence.  And in many places in rural Ohio the system did not update at 
all.  So my real-life experience was that APRS wasn't very useful in the 
contest context.

So, drop it for 2013.  2014, maybe...

Dave/K8CC