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Re: [CQ-Contest] Proposed rules changes

To: Cq Contest Reflector <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Proposed rules changes
From: Ken Low <kenke3x@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 24 May 2015 07:08:28 -0400
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
N4XL wrote:

"I will be changing my station to include that capability should I ever be 
fortunate enough to have a high enough score to attract their interest."

I am not picking on Kevan with my reply - but I have been reading the reflector 
traffic in recent weeks and will simple use his post as a lead-in to make a few 
points.

I really don't see what all the fuss is about.   In fair competitions like 
WRTC, everyone's operation is already recorded.   In major competitions like 
Russian DX it's already required to log frequencies of each QSO.  These are not 
new requirements.

If you don't want to risk being requested to submit a recording, then don't 
cheat in the first place!

The recent TO7A debate recently shed light into the effort and techniques the 
Contest Committee must undertake to root out cheating.   Do we want to clear up 
our sport or not?   If yes, let's make it easier for the cheaters to be caught.

Here's an example.  I am operating SOAB Unassisted with SO2R.   I am running on 
15.   I tune on 10 on Radio 2 and populate my band map with calls to work.   
But I have a good run going on Radio 1 and I can't work the 10-meter stations 
yet, or I'll lose my run frequency.    After 20 minutes my run rate on 15 drops 
(or I get run off my run frequency).   I start clicking on my saved spots on 
10.   Click/work, click/work, etc - they are all new Mults at one per minute.   
If this log were analyzed, would it not look a bit suspicious?   All those new 
Mults in a row, with a crowded band, at 8-15 kHz intervals, jumping from one to 
another?  But what I did was completely legal.

Now consider 'Competitor X', who also enters SOAB Unassisted, but he has 
Internet enabled in his shack.    He submits the exact same log as me, 
identical QSO pattern over the time frame just discussed.    But he did not 
find those 10-Meter Mults on his own.   He found them by clicking spots after 
he changed bands.   

Now picture yourself on the Contest Committee trying to find out who cheated 
and who did not.   You see both log sections above and identify the two 
identical QSO patterns as suspicious.   Wouldn't an audio recording, along with 
frequency information, be useful and definitive to the Contest Committee in 
proving I did not cheat?   It sure would.

I fully support all the proposed CQ rule changes.    My view is:  either we 
want to clean up the sport or not.   

If you are a casual participant (and many on this list complaining are casual 
participants) - just take a deep breath - you are not likely to be asked for an 
audio recording anyway.   The Contest Committee is not interested in conducting 
a witch hunt on the #46 finisher.   They have too much work dealing with the 
top scorers.

If you are aiming at the Top-10 box, you already have enough technology in your 
shack that recording your operation will not be a problem.   If this reduces 
cheating by others, you'll move up in the results as the cheaters above you are 
disqualified.   Either way, you should welcome the rule change.   

Remember - the easiest solution would be to eliminate the SOAB Unassisted 
category altogether and assume everyone is Assisted.   If you want to retain 
SOAB Unassisted and have results that mean something, then logging the 
frequency for each QSO and recording your effort is the price of admission.

73,

Ken KE3X




Ken KE3X
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