[CQ-Contest] Contest Cheating

[ku8e at bellsouth.net]

  It seems lately we are hearing more about cheating going in contesting. The competition (especially in the eastern EU counties and Russia) is cutthroat. Many operators are trying to find a way to gain an advantage anyway that they can even if they have to resort to flat out cheating. Much of this is driven by the fact that the stakes are higher than in the past because these stations are trying to qualify for WRTC.

See http://wrtc.radio-sport.net/dq1.htm

In the case of 4O3A, it is spelled out pretty clearly in the rules that the RST is part of the exchange. If you don't give it then you didn't follow the published rules and you should be penalized in some matter. I think Steve, N2IC, was right on with his comments. Maybe Ranko should not submit his log because if he is DQ'ed then he would be ineligible to submit a log for next years contest. He should just chauk it up to an error in judgement and move on. This would be the honorable thing to do and would be much better than being DQed and losing respect plus gaining a reputation with your contesting peers as being a cheater.
During this weekend I heard stations who didn't give their call signs for a long period of time or ask 
someone to spot them on packet. Plus there are stations who are operating a certain category during the contest and the switch to another when they see the 3830 postings. These are disturbing trends that the contest sponsors also need to address.

BTW.. I have never seen a QSO removed from my log (looking at my UBN) for an incorrect RST.
I doubt the log checking programs even check this.

Jeff , KU8E