[CQ-Contest] Cheating

[kr2q at optimum.net]

Well, in every aspect of life, there have been, are, and always will be cheaters.

Two big elements (historically) that motivate cheating are (a) others do it so I need to 
cheat as well in order to maintain a level playing field (HA!) and (b) What is the risk of getting
caught?

For ham radio events, there is a subset of (b)....if I get caught, will the contest sponsor
actually take any action?  

As we all know, there are some contests where "nobody ever gets DQed."  Maybe one of "those"
has very recently changed for a single entrant.  A move in the right direction.

Many decades ago (and definitely NOT the case today or even recently), the WPX contest was
simply a joke in terms of log checking. The claimed score always = final score.  At the time,
when questioned about the lack of checking, the reply was, "This isn't that kind of contest."
Really?  Clearly, that wrong attitude was fixed ages ago now.

So in consideration of "I wish they would do the right thing," that really depends in great 
part on the sponsor taking action.  

Also, I get your point, but I would say that 99.9% honesty is a bit optimistic.  In a contest
with, say, 7000 log entries, do you really think there are only 7 guys breaking the rules?  Or
maybe you distinguish between "breaking the rules" and intentional "cheating."

Finally, at least for me, a big part of honesty and integrity and peer pressure.  I don't know
why you have not listed the callsign of this station.  I think it would do tremendous good.
Hopefully, if they don't "fall on their sword," after your admonition, you will then feel
compelled to reveal their identify.  I'm sure someone has an SDR recording of the contest 
that would clearly demonstrate two signals at once.

Thanks for bringing this to light!  We need more of the same from others.

de Doug KR2Q