On Jan 22, 6:42*pm, wrote:
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

I don't have the answers.
1) Keep the 123.3 free of radio pollution.
2) Everyone is required to monitor 123.3 at all times. I have to admit
in the past due to excessive radio chatter I lowered the volume and I
missed safety alerts. There is no excuse for this.
3) I would probably let pilots choose their frequencies. Pilots should
keep in mind they should not be violating Federal rules by picking
frequencies they should not be on.
4) Every team should register their frequency so it is no secret and a
list is available to all pilots.
5) There is also a need for one more point that stresses the
importance of fully focusing on 123.3 before start and within x miles
from finish.

Anyway this is just my point of view, in no way I claim I thought this
through but it seems like these guidelines could work. I wonder what
others think.