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Re: [CQ-Contest] 4U1WB disqualified in the 2017 CQ World-Wide WPX SSB Co

To: CQ-Contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] 4U1WB disqualified in the 2017 CQ World-Wide WPX SSB Contest
From: Ron Notarius W3WN <wn3vaw@verizon.net>
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:04:35 -0400
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Wait... so let me see if I understand this correctly.


4U1WB was properly and legally licensed by the United Nations, to operate out 
of a UN agency located at a UN office building located in Washington DC.


Under DXCC rules in place at the time, 4U1WB did not qualify for separate 
entity status, therefore, it is recognized for DXCC purposes as being located 
in the United States.



But it is not licensed by the FCC because the US Government recognizes the 
World Bank building as a UN facility that for diplomatic and related legal 
purposes is not under the jurisdiction of the US.  In short, for this reason 
(and all the related details I'm glossing over), it cannot be licensed by the 
FCC.


With all that in mind... and after all this time...


NOW 4U1WB is disqualified because it does not hold a US license?  A license it 
cannot hold?


With no disrespect intended, that's absurd.  Ridiculous.  Almost insane.  


I thought the whole idea of this level of scrutiny was to catch the people who 
are "cheating".  Not to DQ a legitimate station that has a bit of an unusual 
(but legal) status.

I guess this means we'll be seeing DQWPX 2017 buttons soon, to go along with 
the DQWW 2016 ones that were available at Hamvention & other places?

73, ron W3WN





-----Original Message-----
From: Masa Miura, AJ3M <masa.miura.aj3m@gmail.com>
To: CQ-Contest <CQ-Contest@contesting.com>
Cc: Terry Zivney <n4tz@cqwpx.com>; Richard Moseson <w2vu@cq-amateur-radio.com>
Sent: Thu, Oct 26, 2017 8:17 pm
Subject: [CQ-Contest] 4U1WB disqualified in the 2017 CQ World-Wide WPX SSB 
Contest

Greetings All:The CQ WPX Contest Committee decided to disqualify 4U1WB in the 
2017 CQWorld-Wide WPX SSB Contest. The final results were published in 
theSeptember 2017 issue of CQ Magazine and a list of disqualified 
entries,including 4U1WB, is on page 109. See the following 
website:http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_contests/cq_ww_wpx_contest/cq_ww_wpx_ssb_contest/2017_cq_ww_wpx_ssb_contest/2017_cq_ww_wpx_ssb_line_scores.pdfI
 sent the email below on October 24, 2017 to Terry, N4TZ (n4tz at cqwpx.com),CQ 
WPX Contest Director, regarding the Committee’s decision. Terry has notyet 
replied to me. I also copied Rich, W2VU (w2vu at cq-amateur-radio.com)of CQ 
Magazine, the Contest sponsor.As you will note below, I sent my first email to 
Terry about thedisqualification on October 22. He indicated in his email dated 
October 23to me that 4U1WB was disqualified because the call sign was not 
issued bythe FCC while the log that I submitted showed the United States as 
thecountry of 4U1WB's operation. 4U1WB is a United Nations call sign and 
thestation is located in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States.I do 
not know if Terry or the Contest Committee contacted me by emailbefore the 
disqualification was published. The October 23 email from Terrydid not refer to 
any prior notification. Please see the following from theWPX Contest rules:D. 
Disciplinary Actions: In the event of a violation, the entrant issubject to 
disqualification at the discretion of the Committee.1. DISQUALIFICATION: Entry 
will be listed at the end of the publishedresults and is not eligible for an 
award.2. Notification of Committee actions will be sent by email to the 
addressprovided with the log submission. The entrant has five days to appeal 
thedecision to the Contest Director. After that time the decision is final.I 
looked for such an email in my inbox and spam folder after I found out inthe CQ 
Magazine that 4U1WB was disqualified. I did not find any priorcorrespondence 
from them. I cannot say for sure that I was not contacted byemail. I believe 
that some emails are getting lost in cyberspace. It mighthave been in my spam 
folder and was deleted for some reason. However, Iwould like to highlight that 
the Contest Director relied on unreceiptedemail(s) and made such an important 
decision that could have extremelyserious negative impact on a fellow 
contester's reputation in the contestcommunity.I have participated in the WPX 
Contests many times from the 4U1WB clubstation mainly because I enjoy 
contesting and being part of the worldwidecontest community. I will probably 
never win a major contest from the 4U1WBstation. Another reason is that the WPX 
Contest rules include thefollowing: Special event, commemorative, and other 
unique prefix stationsare encouraged to participate.If the Contest Director 
maintains his position and intends to disqualify4U1WB again in the future 
because of the same reason that he cited, itmeans that 4U1WB is not welcome to 
participate in the WPX Contests. 4U1WBwill not participate in the future unless 
a positive outcome is achieved.I will keep you all posted.73,Masa-- Masa Miura, 
AJ3Mmasa.miura.aj3m at gmail.comaj3m at arrl.netmasahiro.miura.tu94 at 
dartmouth.eduhttps://www.facebook.com/masahiro.miura.tu94---------- Forwarded 
message ----------From: Masa Miura, AJ3M <masa.miura.aj3m at gmail.com>Date: 
Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 6:08 PMSubject: Fwd: 4U1WB disqualification in the 2017 CQ 
World-Wide WPX SSBContest: No more 4U1WB in the WPX Contests in the future?To: 
k5zd at contesting.com, sbolia at woh.rr.com, k6aw at arrl.netCc: Terry Zivney 
<n4tz at cqwpx.com>, w2vu at cq-amateur-radio.com---------- Forwarded message 
----------From: Masa Miura, AJ3M <masa.miura.aj3m at gmail.com>Date: Tue, Oct 
24, 2017 at 5:59 PMSubject: 4U1WB disqualification in the 2017 CQ World-Wide 
WPX SSB Contest:No more 4U1WB in the WPX Contests in the future?To: Terry 
Zivney <n4tz at cqwpx.com>Cc: w0yk at cqwpxrtty.com, f6bee at cqwpx.com, k1ea 
at cqwpx.com, jh4rhf atarrl.net,k1dg at cqwpx.com, k5zd at cqwpx.com, n8bjq at 
cqwpx.com, k6aw at cqwpx.com,w2vu at cq-amateur-radio.comDear Terry:Thank you 
very much for your email below dated October 23, 2017 in responseto my email 
dated October 22, 2017 regarding the CQ WPX Contest Committee’sdecision to 
disqualify 4U1WB in the 2017 CQ World-Wide WPX SSB Contest. TheSeptember issue 
of CQ Magazine included the results for the Contest and alist of disqualified 
entries, including 4U1WB. I participated in theContest from the World Bank 
Group Staff Amateur Radio Club’s station inWashington, DC. I am the President 
of the Club and we use 4U1WB issued bythe United Nations because of the World 
Bank’s status as a multinationaldevelopment institution.Please note that the 
Club is not part of or an agent or affiliate of theWorld Bank. It is an 
association of staff members of the World Bank Group.The World Bank Group 
assumes no liability or responsibility for theactivities of the Club.The 
purpose of this email is to request that you, the CQ WPX ContestDirector, (i) 
reconsider the final decision with respect to 4U1WB’sdisqualification; and (ii) 
inform the contest community that the decisionwas completely wrong. I strongly 
believe that 4U1WB was disqualified for novalid reason.You indicated in your 
email that 4U1WB was disqualified because it was notlicensed by the Federal 
Communications Commission (FCC), the licensingauthority of the United States, 
while the log that I submitted showed theUS as 4U1WB’s country of operation. 
More specifically, you stated that4U1WB violated Rule V. (Scoring) C2 that I 
reproduce below:2. Special event, commemorative, and other unique prefix 
stations areencouraged to participate. Prefixes must be assigned by the 
licensingauthority of the country of operation.As stated in the attached, 4U1WB 
has been properly licensed by the UnitedNations and our Club is allowed to use 
the call sign from our station inWashington, DC. The call sign was granted in 
August 1989 under theauthority granted the United Nations by the 
InternationalTelecommunications Union and in coordination with the United 
StatesAdministration. In July 1989, the State Department’s Bureau 
ofInternational Communications and Information Policy stated in a letter tothe 
UN’s Chief of Telecommunication Service that authorities at the 
FederalCommunication Commission, the National Telecommunications and 
InformationAdministration, and the Department of State were consulted about 
theissuance of the 4U1WB call sign. According to the same letter, the 
USAdministration had no objection to the issuance of this call sign by 
theUnited Nations.I am sure that you, as a fellow contester, know that 
considering an entrantfor a disqualification means that the contest committee 
is challenging theoperator’s integrity and sportsmanship. I fully understand 
that the CQ WPXContest Committee’s intention is to protect the integrity of 
thecompetition and address any violations of the trust that underliesradiosport 
competition. My reputation in the worldwide contest community isvery important 
to me. Our Club’s reputation is equally important. Thedamage was done.While you 
might not have seen my own call sign AJ3M in many contestresults, I have 
participated in major contests, including those sponsoredby CQ Magazine, as a 
member of multi teams, such as KM4M (at K4JA), KD4D(at N3HBX), B1Z, KE3X (at 
N3HBX), HG5C, K4VV, and E22AAA. I have been amember of the Potomac Valley Radio 
Club (PVRC) since 1997.I contacted you on the 22nd, because the published 
results did not explainwhy 4U1WB was disqualified. In fact, quite a few fellow 
amateurs havealready contacted me to ask me why the CQ WPX Contest 
Committeedisqualified 4U1WB. I promised to them that I will post a 
messageexplaining this incident to the CQ Contest Reflector later this 
week.While I have participated in many major contests, including those 
sponsoredby CQ Magazine, from 4U1WB, 4U1WB has never been disqualified.Please 
note that 4U1WB has a 25-year history of vigorous participation inthe CQ WPX 
Contests and no previous Contest Director has ever raised anyissue with the 
validity of the entry, as can be seen at 
http://www.cqwpx.com/searchbycall.htm?cl=4u1wb&amp;submit=GoIn particular, I 
would like to highlight that the CQ World-Wide WPX RTTYContest results for 2017 
included 4U1WB’s score as a valid one while therule that you cited is also 
included in the CQ WW WPX RTTY 
Contestrules.http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_contests/cq_ww_rtty_wpx_contest/2017_cq_ww_rtty_wpx_contest/2017_07_cq_wpx_rtty_scores.pdfIn
 addition, I am not aware of any disqualifications of 4U stationsproperly 
licensed by the United Nations, such as 4U1VIC at the ViennaInternational 
Centre in Vienna, Austria, in the long history of suchoperations from diverse 
locations in various contests, including the WPXContests.I will share this 
correspondence on the PVRC reflector because the 4U1WBdisqualification 
adversely affected the aggregate score of the PVRC in theclub competition. As I 
mentioned earlier, I will also post a message aboutthis disqualification to the 
CQ Contest Reflector later this week.Please note that the members of the CQ WPX 
Contest Committee and the CQ WPXRTTY Contest Director, Ed Muns, W0YK, are 
copied on this email. In addition,Jun Tanaka, JH4RHF, of 4U1VIC, and Rich 
Moseson, W2VU, of CQ Magazine, arecopied.Regards,Masa Miura, AJ3MPresident, 
World Bank Group Staff Amateur Radio ClubOn Mon, Oct 23, 2017 at 10:32 AM, 
Terry Zivney <n4tz at cqwpx.com> wrote:> 4U1WB violated rule 5C2:>> *2.* 
Special event, commemorative, and other unique prefix stations are> encouraged 
to participate. Prefixes must be assigned by the licensing> authority of the 
country of operation.>> 4U1 is not assigned by the FCC, the licensing authority 
of the USA, which> is> what the log of 4U1WB showed as the country of 
operation.>> 73>> Terry N4TZ, CQ WPX Contest Director> On Sunday, October 22, 
2017 7:30 PM, Masahiro Miura <> masa.miura.aj3m at gmail.com> wrote:>>> 
Terry,>> I am forwarding the email below to you. Look forward to hearing from 
you.>> 73,>> Masa> AJ3M>>>>> *差出人:* Masahiro Miura <masa.miura.aj3m at 
gmail.com>> *日時:* 2017年10月22日 19:27:14 GMT-4> *宛先:* questions at cqwpx.com> 
*件名:* *2017 WPX SSB 4u1wb*>> I participated in the WPX SSB Contest this year 
from 4U1WB. I just found> out that 4U1WB was disqualified.>> Can you please 
explain why?>> Thanks.>> 73,>> Masa> 
AJ3M>_______________________________________________CQ-Contest mailing 
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