[CQ-Contest] Thoughts on DQs in CQWW

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

I would agree on the self spotting.  We already have self spotting on CW 
and RTTY in the way of skimmers and the RBN.  It would not be an issue 
if we had a SSB equivalent.  On SSB being spotted is an advantage and I 
understand where it is unfair to those being allowed to do the same and 
I understand the need to disallow the use.  I bet plenty of people self 
spotted but were smarter about it and have never got caught.   We need 
to discuss changes to this rule and see if there is common ground to 
allow it in SSB.   What is the difference between self spotting and 
placing a skimmer that reports to the RBN next door to your station so 
that you are spotted all the time?

Does calling up mults and asking them to work you equal a self spot 
now?  It didn't used to be allowed but I have heard of a number times 
this was done.  A big MM in the Caribbean did this, broke records and 
then they told us how wonderful they were.  Some of those players are 
still contesting today and were/are highly regarded by many.   That same 
group used Alpha 77 Exports, why would you import these amps unless you 
intended to use them to their full capacity.  They were not used for 
RTTY where you might want some head room for the duty cycle.   I was 
given a tour of what remained of the station by the owner.  He told me 
about all the phone calls and scheduling of contacts.  This was a 
country that at one point had a 400 watt power limit and then it was 
raised to 1000w later.  Excessive power is cheating and it is abused in 
all power class categories.  I have been told that most of the USA ops 
have cleaned up their acts.  This tells me we had/have a cheating 
problem.  Personally, I think plenty are still running big power in the 
USA.  Once again really hard to prove unless they fess up or you stop 
by.  Plenty of people have knowledge of this but, hey wink wink.

How many people worked that famous DX-peditioner who was later reported 
that he didn't quite follow the rules?  The only way he was caught is 
that he talked about it and it got out.

Remote receivers are abundant and nearly impossible to detect. These are 
a huge advantage especially on the low bands.  This is already a huge 
thing, whether people want to admit it or not. Having a receiver on the 
east coast of the USA while being in the West would be a huge advantage.

I used to think Ham Operators held themselves to a higher standard. They 
don't.  People will cheat at anything to get ahead.  Online gaming where 
there are generally, no awards, prizes or otherwise has a big cheating 
problem.  It takes just a small percentage of cheaters to effect it for 
all.  Some people that I knew, trusted and never would have ever thought 
they would cheat were.  People are programmed to take the path of least 
resistance.  Read some studies why people lie.  There are eye opening.

We all are effected by just one cheater.  When some get away with 
things, others will find out and try themselves and the push is on. How 
many logs were padded with contacts in the past?  How close did one 
person get from getting away with it in a huge way?  Without public logs 
and scrutiny on those logs, that guy would have never been caught.  What 
is sad is that person is a great operator, just like many of the online 
gamers.  Why do those that don't need to cheat, do it anyway?  I suppose 
there are psychological reasons for doing it.

How can you know that you have never been affected by cheating? Most 
cheating has gone undetected for years.  I have no way to know if my 
scores were affected by people cheating or not.

How many people worked stations outside there band in the last contest?  
How many worked the station and then later changed their log frequency 
and got away with it?  Those that worked those stations had their QSO's 
removed so the impact on the contest was nil.  This is the first year 
that it became a big deal.  Are you telling me that the moons all 
aligned in 2016 and a bunch of people all felt compelled to work 
stations outside their bands or maybe it was the first year it was 
really looked into?  Since there is so little transparency in the 
adjudication process, people outside the process have little knowledge 
of how much or how little cheating is really going on.

When this topic came up a few months ago, I did get an email from a 
person that was in charge of a contest and was told that there is plenty 
of foul play going on where it would be hard for many of us to believe.

We don't want to embarrass those we compete with.  They are our friends 
and would never do anything wrong and they count on this sentiment.  The 
list of people that worked stations outside the band in the 2016 WW has 
some very big Names (calls) and they were protected.     Some were 
honest mistakes.  Many were calculated gambles or just don't care that 
they are out of band.

I have no clue what rampant means.  I also have no clue what percent of 
entrants have been found to be cheating or failing to follow the rules 
of the contest.  I would hope that 90 to 95 percent of us are doing it 
right.

We have a cheating problem.  It saddens me that people are so eager to 
ignore it.

W0MU





On 4/16/2017 7:32 AM, Stan Stockton wrote:
> This self spotting issue on SSB is much ado about nothing, in my opinion.  What's the difference in having 50 friends who spot you once each and five friends who spot you 10 times each.  Who really cares?  Focusing on a subjective determination as to whether someone got spotted by a friend too many times in order to DQ the participant is ridiculous.
>
> The other thing I think is ridiculous is the notion that cheating is so rampant.
> There has only been one time in the last forty years that it gave me concern that I was affected.
>
> 73... Stan, K5GO
>
>> On Apr 16, 2017, at 6:21 AM, Ed Sawyer <sawyered at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>  From my research of the DQ list, I found the following for some country data
>> (just grabbed some countries and drilled down).  I counted everyone
>> participating in a multi and used their home callsign as a national.
>>
>>
>>
>> 11 - Italy (plus II9P team - typically 6 - 10 ops)
>>
>> 5 - US
>>
>> 5 - UK
>>
>> 4 - Ukraine
>>
>> 3 - France
>>
>> 3 - Brazil
>>
>> 3 - Switzerland
>>
>> 2 - Germany
>>
>> 2 - Spain
>>
>> 2 - Russia
>>
>> 2 - Argentina
>>
>> 0 - Japan (noteworthy vs the large number of entrants)
>>
>>
>>
>> Hardly a conspiracy in my opinion.  Looks like a big dragnet that hopefully
>> sends a message to everyone that is if you self-spot (or work with a close
>> friend excessively cheerleading you - whether that's a real person or an
>> avitar) or use assistance unclaimed - you are going to get caught and DQ'd.
>>
>>
>>
>> I believe that this information has been building over a few years.  Kudos
>> to CQ WW CC for having the courage to raise the bar on fair competition.
>>
>>
>>
>> Ed  N1UR
>>
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