Personally, it doesn't bother me if someone wants to come and observe me
contesting. It would surprise me if my station was deemed "important
enough" for someone to take their time off of actually contesting and
drive up here to Vermont to do it, but wouldn't bother me in the least.
I believe that most people are not thinking through the sequence of
events though... If a station is contacted to be observed, and they say
sure, send someone to spend time here, even if they have cheated for
years, they are not going to cheat that year in front of someone. Is it
going to "catch" cheaters?, no, it will prevent cheating at locations
where the time is put into observation. Then obviously, if that person
does significantly worse than they usually do on that year, maybe some
conclusions could be drawn. But "catch them cheating", hardly.
And if you think it through even more and assume that there is some
"regional observer" that would "swing by" a number of competitive
stations in an area during the weekend. What is going to be able to do?
How easy is it to "sneak up" on a typical contest station and "catch"
someone doing something. Virtually impossible actually. It would take
milliseconds to shut off the internet, turn down power, and pull a
second person out of the chair (Joe was just stopping by to see how I
was doing...).
I cannot really see the possibility of actually "catching" someone with
the possible exception of a 2 man team being able to catch someone
running excessive power. Details furnished upon request.
I am really not sure the "plan behind the anouncement" although I have
to assume that there is one. I applaud CQ Contest Committee for making
a "fair game" this important, it raises the quality for all in my
opinion. But one thing I am fairly certain of...it won't actually
"catch" a cheater. The log analysis and on air recording and data
analysis and reporting of unaccepted practices like "please spot me"
will continue to do that.
Ed N1UR
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