USA Competition Rules Changes Proposed for 2013

On Tuesday, January 22, 2013 6:01:13 PM UTC-5, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
On Jan 22, 3:06*pm, wrote: On Tuesday, January 22, 2013 9:19:40 AM UTC-5, Tony wrote: Why do you need to lobby for radio and sage? I thought the 2013 rules will allow radio use. The rules for 2013 permit pilot to pilot radio communication in regional contests without the previously required waiver. The organizers may choose to allow this or not and are permitted to establish procedures appropriate for their contest. UH RC Chair It will be interesting to see how this rule is received. 27% of pilots were opposed to this rule. Are these pilots going to stay home or try to make the best out of the situation and give it a try. I see good arguments on both sides. I did not see much in terms of implementation thoughts or guidance e.g. are all pilots still required to listen on 123..3? I assume yes since the other rule is still in place. Do we allow pilots to talk on other frequencies than the 123.3? If so do we designate one or two of them or is it free for all? Designated frequencies for a given contest would be good for monitoring what is going on. I would like to know who is flying in what group and how that translates to results on the score sheet. Most pilots don't have radios allowing them to listen to two frequencies are these pilots going to tune out of 123.3 causing safety issues. In the worlds as I understand each team is assigned their frequency. Are pilots also required to listen to another frequency for safety reasons. I assume this must be true at least during the start and finish what about the task? This is a subject that needs to be well thought through. I would expect some guidance so we don't have wild west every contest doing something else causing plenty of confusion.

You raise some very good points.
If you were the competition director for a regional contest with, say 30 gliders in 2 classes,like Sports and FAI, what guidelines would you put into place?
UH