[CQ-Contest] WPX Exchange

[Albert Crespo]

I gave out a RS report 2898 times last week as TO5A. You  figure as to whether I would have liked to have avoided having to have done    this. I was going to respond to 4O3A's comments as  to whether  a  RS(T) was necessary for a valid  exchange to occur. I was considering   whether such an  omission might be considered a "busted" QSO. My reelection over the years was that  CQWW and CQWPX have  penalized logs for "busted"  QSOs at a rate of removing 3 QSOs for each "busted"  call. I wanted to review this  penalty procedure  in the WPX contest  rules. http://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm .    Much to my surprise, I could not find anything abut this  procedure.  I then checked the rules for CQWW- http://www.cqww.com/. The same  results. The ARRL general Contest rules state:   
7.  Disqualification and Penalties: 
 7.1. If the claimed score of a participant is reduced by 2% or more, the  entry may be disqualified. Score reduction does not include correction of  arithmetic errors. 
7.2. Score reduction may be made for taking credit for  unconfirmed QSOs or multipliers, duplicate contacts or other scoring  discrepancies. 
  7.2.1. Duplicate QSOs in electronic log file are considered zero point QSOs  and are not penalized.
 7.3. If a paper entry with more than two-percent duplicate contacts left in  the log is detected, it will be automatically disqualified. 
7.4. If an entry  in which more than 2% "rubber clocking" is detected, (altering the actual time  to increase the operating time so that it is greater than the allowable limit)  it will be automatically disqualified. 
7.5. Participants that are  disqualified will be barred from submitting an entry in the next annual running  of that specific contest; for example, disqualification from the 2000 Phone SS  prohibits submission of an entry for the 2001 Phone SS, but 2001 CW SS  participation is allowable. 
7.6. Call signs of all disqualified participants  will be listed in the QST contest report. 
7.7. Any participant on the  borderline of disqualification, but not actually disqualified. may receive a  warning letter. 
7.8. In a paper log, for each  duplicate contact that is claimed for credit, each miscopied call sign or each  busted exchange that is removed from the log by HQ, three additional contacts  will be deleted as a penalty. In electronic logs, for each duplicate contact  that is claimed for credit, each miscopied call sign or each busted exchange  that is removed from the log by HQ, one additional contact will be deleted as a  penalty. The penalty will not be considered part of the 2% disqualification  criteria.  The rules are the rules. Oh, it would be nice if they  were in the rules.  There is a good reason our hobby is called "amateur"  radio!      73, Albert