[CQ-Contest] A modern Multi Single or.........?

[Marios Nicolaou 5B4WN]

Fellow contesters,

Greetings.

I would like to open an issue that has been troubling myself and others for
a few months now and I would like to ask for the opinion of this reflector
as far as the legality of it is concerned.

I am talking about the recent multi-single operations from Cyprus by two
Russian Teams (H20A in WPX CW and IARU (also H22A in IARU 97) and P3A in
IARU 98). What I found so amazing about these operations was the
unbelievable score achieved with the current propagation conditions. And
the scores were not due to the large number of multipliers worked alone but
also the tremendous amount of QSOs made. At the beginning I thought "yes
these people can work them fast" but it took me a few contests to realize
how else they could have achieved this:

WPX and IARU have a 10 minute rule for MS (no matter if a station is a
multiplier or not, once worked you have to remain on that band for a
minimum of 10 minutes), so the incentive of a multiplier station is very
different in these contests as compared to CQ WW. I have heard that some
stations try to scan the same band for multipliers but what the teams in
question did was to have a number of multiplier stations at some distance
(to null out any intra-transmitter interference) all networked via packet.
These stations were scanning the SAME band working NOT ONLY NEW MULTS but
also EVERYBODY calling CQ on the band that hadn't been worked before (ie a
non-dupe contact) thus ensuring both a maximum number of QSOs and
multipliers, with rates of 200++ an hour..........
I will not forget in last year's IARU when I was operating from the UK
being called by H22A on almost all bands and modes..... and I do not think
that we were their first zone 27 multiplier they had worked on all of those
bands. I had similar experiences in WPX CW 98 and I was told that it
happened in IARU 98 as well. Several Hams have also written to me after WPX
CW 98 and told me that whilst monitoring H20A during the contest they
noticed inconsistencies in the serial number ie a CQ was followed by a +5
increment in the serial number (QSOs the multiplier stations had made
during the time the Running station was calling CQ). Of course, one can
argue that this can be legal if the Running and Multiplier stations were
not transmitting at the same time complying with:
                      "Only ONE transmitted signal allowed at any one time"
rule. 
Well I can guarantee you that this rule was NOT observed in the above
cases. It is worth mentioning that new records have been claimed by the
above stations in the above contests.

One might ask why does it bother you if you are not competing as a
Multi-Single anyway? Well if what these teams are doing is cheating (which
I believe it is), I feel ashamed that this is happening in my own country
and I feel obliged to report it so that it can be further investigated and
actions taken. 
One may wrongly generalize that any station from Cyprus is cheating. NO
THAT IS NOT CORRECT. All of the members of the Nicosia Contest Group go by
the rules, whether it involves taking down the second element of a 2
element delta loop for 40m to enter TS, switching off packet cluster for
unassisted etc It is also unfair for all those Multi-Singles out there who
respect the rules. Either everybody goes by the rules or ...... The rules
could, of course, be changed to accommodate new ideas, new technology
(Perhaps an MMS category: Multi operators Multi transmitters on a Single
band) but they should be the SAME for everyone.

I think that it is sad that some people nowadays do everything to win. Is
radio contesting becoming like the modern Olympics where the motto for most
is "the winning and NOT the taking part matters most"?

So I am asking the question:
Is the above method of operation Legal or can this be defined as Cheating?
If the latter is true, then action should be taken to stop it from
happening again.

But then of course I could be wrong............. in which case I apologize
for the bandwidth and I am asking you to please discard this message.

Thank you for your attention

Best 73s 
Marios Nicolaou
5B4WN (C4W)

5b4wn at qsl.net


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