[CQ-Contest] 40m lower band edge SSB

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

The CQ WW DX Contest Committee is responsible for checking and 
adjudicating the contest entries. Entrants are expected to follow the 
rules and best amateur radio practices. Violation of the rules of the 
contest or unsportsmanlike conduct may lead to disciplinary action by 
the Committee.

*A. Unsportsmanlike Conduct:* Examples of unsportsmanlike conduct 
include, but are not limited to:

 1. Arranging or confirming any contacts during or after the contest by
    use of ANY non-amateur radio means such as telephones, Internet,
    instant messaging, chat rooms, VoIP, email, social media or web sites.
 2. Transmissions by the entrant on frequencies outside of license
    limitations.
 3. Changing times in the log to meet band change or off time rules.
 4. Taking credit for excessive unverifiable QSOs or unverifiable
    multipliers.
 5. Signals with excessive bandwidth (e.g., splatter, clicks) or
    harmonics on other bands.
 6. Running stations not identifying in a timely manner (i.e., 1 minute).

CQ even addresses this in their FAQ


        Q: What should I do if I accidentally make a QSO outside my
        license privileges?

Use X-QSO to mark the contact so it will not count for your score.

If you want to remove a QSO for any reason, use a text editor to add 
"X-" to the beginning of the QSO line in the Cabrillo file. For example:

X-QSO: 7023 CW 2009-05-31 0033 AK1W 599 05 XX9XX 599 24

The log checking software will not count this QSO for you, but will give 
credit to the other station.

My thoughts:

Operating outside the rules of your license should be a serious 
infraction.  You may have just jeopardized your license and the license 
of the the station you are operating at.  One time. OK.  people make 
mistakes.  Calling stations and logging them well below the band edge is 
not acceptable.

There was a station on the edge of 40m SSB for hours and the stream of 
USA stations calling that station was sad.  A lot of people that know 
better should be reevaluating their operating in this contest.  I am 
sure a ton of OO reports were sent.  I am not an OO.  I know others that 
were taking lists.  Maybe he emailed those folks directly.

This is a clear violation of the FCC rules.

I would hope that CQ will look at these contacts and cross check with 
the DX log to see if people just deleted these out of band contacts 
instead of marking them as above and two those contacts should be 
removed from any USA logs.  People deleting the contacts would be guilty 
of log massaging.  I hope that the remote receivers were able to pick 
this stuff up.

Sorry learn the rules of your license and the contest.  The rules were 
broken by many.  I hope CQ will take the appropriate action.

W0MU