[CQ-Contest] My RED CARD - IT9GSF

[Doug Grant]

Hello, Fabio -

Thank you for your email. I received your direct email yesterday
morning, and was unable to respond immediately. I see that you have
now chosen to air this issue publicly on CQ-Contest, thus I will
respond publicly.

First, congratulations on your excellent scores from the II9T and II9P
stations. I know how hard it is to build a competitive contest
station, and you can be proud of your successes. I also compliment you
on inviting guest operators to share your stations and bringing new
ops into multi-ops.

I am sorry to hear that your team received a Red Card in the 2012 CQWW
SSB. I am sure that the CQWW Contest Committee took this action only
after carefully considering all the available data (I am a member of
the CQWW Committee, but was not involved in any of the Card
decisions).

As you know, the rule regarding WRTC ineligibility for operators who
have received Red Cards or equivalent disqualification from any
Qualifying Event was added for the 2010 WRTC in Russia. This is a very
good rule, and insures that all Team Leaders and Team Members have
obeyed the rules and are careful with their log submissions.
Submitting a log correctly is a part of entering a contest. This rule
was enforced impartially in Russia and is being enforced impartially
for WRTC2014. There was at least one Russian operator who was unable
to compete in WRTC2010 in his homeland due to receiving a Red Card. I
am sure that this was a difficult decision for the WRTC2010 organizers
and a great disappointment for that operator.

This rule is in place for all potential Team Leaders and Team Members.
You and Matteo are not the only operators who received Red Cards and
are not eligible for WRTC2014. Suggesting that there is a conspiracy
against IT9GSF and IZ3EYZ is ridiculous and is an insult to the
WRTC2014 Board of Directors and to K5ZD and to me.

WRTC2014 will not make exceptions to the eligibility rule, and will
not ask contest sponsors to change their decisions on cards. We rely
on the integrity and fairness of the contest sponsors to make the
correct decisions regarding their entries. In your case, I note in
your original message:

   "I then did the bad thing; I changed some times in some QSOs...
   I now know this thing was enough to disqualify me, and all the members
   of the team, from the CQWW SSB 2012. I know it is a very bad thing. "

Yes, it was a very bad thing. It was a deliberate violation of the
rules, and not an accident.

I am sorry that you and Matteo will not be eligible to enter WRTC2014
as competitors. I hope you will get on the air and provide lots of
QSOs and multipliers for the competing stations and submit a log that
we can use for cross-checking. I wish you continuing success and high
scores at your new station, and wish you the best for qualifying for
future WRTCs.

73,

Doug K1DG
President, WRTC2014