[CQ-Contest] CQ WW CW 2014 Results

[Paul O'Kane]

On 05/05/2015 18:50, Oliver Dröse wrote:

> <snip>
>
> I asked this question already before but will gladly repeat it: What 
> is needed for the contest committee to take actions on too wide signals?

The CQWW committee took the initiative, some three
years ago, in saying that "signals of excessive
bandwidth", being examples of unsportsmanlike
conduct, might lead to disciplinary action.

Unfortunately, whether by accident or design, the
committee neglected to define excessive bandwidth
- so no one is any the wiser.

Now, anyone who has a modern SDR with a panadapter
(including the K3/P3) is in a position to hear, see,
measure and record the widths of offending signals.
The problem is that the CQWW committee, even with its
own recordings, will not necessarily have the means
to repeat these measurements and, in any case, one
man's "excessive" is another's "perfectly normal".

It seems to me that, without agreed parameters there
can be no agreement on what constitutes excessive
bandwidth.

Therefore, to get the ball rolling, I suggest that
excessive bandwidth be defined, in part, as follows -

   CW  - width greater than 500Hz at 40db down
   SSB - width greater than 6kHz at 40db down

 From experience, I know these measurements are easy
to do, in real time, on a panadapter-equipped SDR.
Anyone whose experience is limited to the current
top-of-the-range Yaesu, Icom, and Kenwood rigs will
not know this, and will be unable to do it themselves.

Once signals with excessive bandwidth have been
identified, it's usually too late to do anything
about them after the contest.  Why not spot them
with the comment "Wide?" and let others (and the
CQWW committee) see for themselves when it really
matters - during the contest?

73,
Paul EI5DI