[CQ-Contest] Station Inspections

[Tom Haavisto]

I have heard two stories - I will leave it up to the reader to decide if
these are true or simply folk legend.

A station was suspected of running excessive power, and this was brought to
the attention of the local radio inspector (a government official).  During
a contest, he went to the suspected culprits station, and took a series of
field strength measurements at various locations in his yard.  He then went
to the door, and identified himself.  He inserted a wattmeter, and then
requested the operator to tune up the amp to the countries legal limit.  The
inspector went back to his previous locations, and took a new series of
field strength measurements.  As expected, there was a noticeable
difference.  He then told the operator "OK - load it up to where you had
it."

In another case, the RI also suspected excessive power.  Seems the shack was
running on the warm side, so the operator propped the door open to allow
some air into the shack.  The door of the shack opened directly outside.
The RI commented, "and there I was!"  Seems he had two 10 KW amps running
full bore...

No chance to turn the power down...

Will this solve the problem?  No.  But sometimes cheaters DO get caught.

FWIW

Tom - VE3CX


<snip>

> But "catch them cheating", hardly.
>
> And if you think it through even more and assume that there is some
> "regional observer" that would "swing by" a number of competitive
> stations in an area during the weekend.  What is going to be able to do?
> How easy is it to "sneak up" on a typical contest station and "catch"
> someone doing something.  Virtually impossible actually.  It would take
> milliseconds to shut off the internet, turn down power, and pull a
> second person out of the chair (Joe was just stopping by to see how I
> was doing...).
>
> I cannot really see the possibility of actually "catching" someone with
> the possible exception of a 2 man team being able to catch someone
> running excessive power. Details furnished upon request.
>