[CQ-Contest] Cheating - Big Amps

[Mats Strandberg]

The idea about UHP class is not all that bad...  or why not recommend people
using total transmitted power more than 1.5 kW (or actually 1.0 kW which is
the legal limit in most European countries) to participate in the Extreme
Category of CQWW....

We will NEVER solve the problem with Power Cheating through rules or
checking from the contest sponsors. The change has to come from inside the
contest community itself - meaning that each individual contester must ask
himself if it is appropriate to use excessive power or not...

Contest committees seem to care 110% about enforcing more than one signal at
a time problems, or cluster cheating, but for obvious reasons, many
committees decide to close their eyes for power cheating. Why committees
decide to act like ostridges?  I think most of you guys can imagine why...

The big deal is perhaps not if a European station allowed to use 1 kW
according to his licence decides to use the full 1.5 kW capacity of his
amplifier. The problems start when he purchases an OM 3500 or a huge Emtron,
or even more powerful amps - and starts using them with one antenna or
powersplit the many kW into several antenna directions to be powerful
towards major contest regions - or to "clean" the frequency from competition
by turning an antenna towards other geographically close areas.

I am not more angel than anyone else on this forum. I have both seen and
worked from stations with slightly more than 1 kW... but I belong to the
category of contesters that has finally realized that we can not continue
like this!

The power caroussel is a story that will make contesting boring eventually
for the bulk of contesters - those who use LP, QRP or simple 1 kW amps with
average antennas. If the big guns do not start an honest discussion
first with themselves, and then with other big guns, and ask if it really is
appropriate to powersplit 5 kW into two or more antennas, then we will end
up in trouble sooner or later.

Radiosport contesting nowadays is like the competitive professional cycling
circus... Doping is soon more common than clean riders.

If we do not start cleaning in front of our own carpets, who else will do
it?

I think it is time to focus on the main issue and not divert the question to
showing kids our hobby or using cars with 500 horse powers... This has
nothing to do with how we finetune our approach to contesting and how to
make this a cleaner and more honest competition!  That people show their
stations to young people is an excellent activity, which our hobby
eventually depend on - BUT it does not make the power issue less important.

Excessive power is not only an issue of fair play - it is also a physical
limitation that prevents more and more contesters to enter the radiosport
world. If we do not make sure that our signals are clean and reasonably
strong... then the limited band segments will reduce the amount of contest
operators. This is not good for contesting!

I also would like to agree on some comments referring to the difference
between EU big guns and US big guns. The American MM stations are indeed
perfect examples of excellent engineering skills and in most cases ideal
operating ethics and behaviour! North American contesters might think that
big guns in Europe and elsewhere work according to the same ethical
principles as US Multi Multi stations, but the reality is different
unfortunately.

Only Europeans have the possibility to really feel what Power Cheating
creates locally here... This is NOT felt in Manitoba or even further away.
One needs to be close geographically to such stations to feel the juice...

So my suggestion is:  If you feel that you have gone a little too far in
your ambitions to be the best.... and if you motivate your Power Cheating
with "this is exactly what others are doing"... then sit down for a minute
and think - is this really a sustainable development?

There are different ways to combat the problem, and I do not think it is
right to put all fire into one direction. Tonno ES5TV is a great guy whom I
admire for exceptional operating skills in SO2R environment and also for
building an excellent station and for recruiting new and young operators. He
is also the only one that dares to debate from the big gun environment - so
all honour to him. However, for longterm improvement, all other big guns
must also wake up in their pits and start talking first to themselves and
then to other big guns....

The Power Cheating can never be enforced by contest sponsors - it can ONLY
be changed by ousrselves!

73 de RA/SM6LRR, Mats




2011/9/6 Robert Chudek - K0RC <k0rc at citlink.net>

> Maybe it's time to re-think the power limit? I have a 1500 Watt
> microwave oven that cooks my food. It's nothing special. Why shouldn't
> hams be able to experiment with 10 kW, 25 kW, or even 100 kW amplifiers?
> What's so special about 1500 Watts? There's many things that can be
> learned from attempting higher power levels. As for contesting, add a
> new power class, UHP, for ultra high power.
>
> 73 de Bob - KØRC in MN
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 9/5/2011 10:22 AM, Jorge Diez - CX6VM wrote:
> > and there´s many more in the same situation Danny,
> >
> > and worst is that the photos show the younger's learning about ham radio
> > with this big amplifiers.
> >
> > In the future they will assume that this is "normal".
> >
> > 73,
> > Jorge
> > CX6VM/CW5W
> >
> > -----Mensaje original-----
> > De: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
> > [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] En nombre de e73m at e73m.com
> > Enviado el: Lunes, 05 de Septiembre de 2011 10:25 a.m.
> > Para: cq-contest at contesting.com
> > Asunto: [CQ-Contest] Cheating - Big Amps
> >
> >
> > I do not have a problem with guys showing their big amps on the web but
> > what message is sent by member of CQWW DX contest committee, ES5TV.
> >
> > Proof in pictures is here: http://www.palapk.edu.ee/main.php?l=35
> >
> > If you have trouble counting big amplifiers in his shack I will help
> > you, there were at least two DX4 (5kW+), three OM3500, Two LV6 (Russian
> > military surplus) and ONE!!! ACOM 2000. How many 1500 Watts he actually
> > uses per antenna?
> >
> > 73 Danny Horvat, E73M
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