Randy K5ZD, WPX contest director, announced that preliminary rules for this season will change the multi/single class to a true single transmitter class. Although I do not believe the new rules have been made 100% official yet, I would imagine they will stick. After all, it is about time the multi/single category actually was a multi/single category.

We run multi/single from my place whenever we can. This might mean a few friends, a whole team, or just my dad and I. I can run a second operating position, and we have in the past. This is used for a multiplier station, as is customary with CQWW and WPX. Once in a while, we'll do real well. Guess what? Having a second position strictly for working multipliers still places one in the multi/single class. If you use that second station to run or work beyond the per-rule limits of the multiplier station, you are reclassed as a multi/2.

I am lucky. I have just enough space to set up that second position. I also am willing to put forward the effort and the time to set it up and maintain it as best I can. If my primary usage of the station was armchair DX'ing, the re-routing of coax and equipment would be a real pain in the butt and nearly impossible. Since my primary interest is in contesting -- a condition that might account for only 20% or so of the contesting population -- I am happy to do it. In fact, I do it because I have to: entering multi/single without a multiplier position is like entering a NASCAR race on a bike.

What Randy and the WPX crew (whoever that benevolent entity may be these days) suggests is to eliminate that second position. Now, stations without the room or the desire to setup that multiplier station can still be competitive, if only slightly more than before. The downside is that single operators with the use of a second radio will outscore the multi/singles, since they have the ability to search for mult's. The new rule also imposes a 10 minute band change restriction on multi/single stations.

What does this mean here at N0HI? I enjoy multi/single! I have no desire to work up to multi/2 in WPX, as my second position would be outclassed by the other high end multi/2's. So, we will continue to operate with a single transmitter. The second station will work well as a spotting station to propagate spots locally and across the cluster. It will return to it's full-time charge of multiplier position during CQWW, where the rules will never change.

So what does this rule change mean for the contesting community?

• More "garage" multi/singles
• More competition in the category
• Easier to invite some friends over to learn contesting
• HOPEFULLY more interest in multioperator contesting

Now, some of the old-timers don't like this rule. The comments on CQ-Contest have suggested that the interlocking of stations will still occur. Well, that's fine -- but now stations must interlock on the SAME band per the QSY rule. If you can build a station to do that, but have no interest in moving up to multi/2, more power to you! This rule is for the guys hanging out, drinking beer, and operating the contest (to paraphrase KR2Q on the subject). Those guys hanging out, drinking beer, and operating the contest make up close to 80% of entrants in WPX, I suspect. We NEED more multioperator entries in general, and this often means those garage multi-ops.

There will still be a handful of super-serious m/s entrants. I suspect that this rule will add a few more. I may not have been one of the SUPER-competitive before (at least on the world scale), but this rule might put us a little closer. It gives us all a break to stop, redesign our stations, and make the most strategic decisions for the season.

Expect to hear N0HI on the air in the true multi/single category this season in the WPX contests. Don't expect to hear our multiplier station. Cheers,