[CQ-Contest] Why was 4U1WB Disqualified in the CQ WPX Contest?

[Mark Bailey]

Hi Terry:

I admire your decision to reverse 4U1WB's disqualification and clarify the rules so that this situation does not occur again.

Thanks and 73,

Mark, KD4D

On October 27, 2017 3:02:02 PM EDT, Terry Zivney <n4tz at arrl.net> wrote:
> Why was 4U1WB Disqualified in the CQ WPX Contest?
>
>As Masa, AJ3M, noted in his posting about the 
>disqualification of 4U1WB in the 2017 CQ WPX SSB
>contest, I informed him that:
>
>"4U1WB violated rule V.C.2: 
>
>2. Special event, commemorative, and other unique prefix stations are
>encouraged to participate. Prefixes must be assigned by the licensing
>authority of the country of operation.
>
>4U1 is not assigned by the FCC, the licensing authority of the USA,
>which is 
>what the log of 4U1WB showed as the country of operation."
>
>*********
>
>The WPX contest rule cited clearly states that the callsign must be
>assigned
>by the licensing authority. The FCC did not assign the callsign, and
>has no authority to issue 4U1WB callsigns. Thus, the station did not
>operate in compliance with the existing contest rules.
>
>Since 4U1 prefixes can be in multiple countries, rule V.C.1 would also
>apply.
>The DXCC list includes 4U1UN and 4U1ITU as separate entities. So, the
>4U1
>prefix does not denote the country of operation. This rule states:
>
>"A station operating from a DXCC entity different from that indicated
>by its call sign is required to sign portable." Because the 4U1WB
>callsign
>does not reflect the DXCC entity of USA, it is required to sign
>portable.
>
>I did not write these rules, but was charged with interpreting and
>enforcing them.
>
>*********
>
>Why was 4U1WB disqualified in 2017 but not in prior years?
>
>I cannot answer why 4U1WB was not disqualified previously. However, I
>can state that my practice, as I believe is true of most contest
>directors,
>is to focus most of my attention on the larger scores. 4U1WB's score
>was less than 1 percent of the highest score in his category, so it
>was not eyeballed earlier.
>
>I was proofreading the line scores and top scores boxes for the CQ WPX
>SSB
>contest shortly before CQ's submission deadline.  These scores change
>every
>day as new logs are received. I try to let this process continue as
>long as
>possible to ensure the most accurate log checking. While doing the
>proofreading,
>I noticed 4U1WB/3 listed in a top scores box. This seemed odd, so I
>looked
>further. Was this 4U3 or 4U1/W3? What did he send? Reference to his log
>
>showed he sent 4U1WB and was located in MDC so it was obviously in the
>USA. 
>This resulted in my checking the rules about portable callsigns and the
>rest is history.
>
>*********
>
>I will change the WPX rule V.C.2 for 2018 to reflect a new and improved
>
>wording, "Prefixes must be issued or permitted by the licensing
>authority of the country of operation."
>
>This revised rule will fit the case of 4U1WB, who has a letter from the
>
>US Department of State saying that the licensing authority (FCC) has no
>problem with this operation. 
>
>I don't believe it was wrong for me to enforce the published rules. The
>fact that all published rules have not been (and maybe even are not)
>always
>enforced does not mean that they can safely be ignored.
>
>As an example, the  CQWW contest has always had a rule that the
>exchange
>includes the zone, yet for many years the directors of the CQWW
>did not penalize operators for incorrectly reporting the exchange.
>Indeed, one of the former directors published an article in CQ Contest
>magazine saying that the exchange would not be checked! Yet, in recent
>years
>the exchange has been checked and operators penalized for incorrectly
>recording the exchange.  No advance notice was given of this change in
>practice.  It was always in the rules and now the rules are enforced.
>
>**********
>
>Resolution of problem
>
>1) Rule V.C.2 will be clarified for the 2018 WPX contest as noted above
>2) In the spirit of good sportsmanship, the 4U1WB 2017 logs will be
>removed 
>from disqualified status and his corrected scores entered in our online
>databases.
>3) An errata will be posted on the CQWPX.com website
>
>I am so sorry that this experience caused Masa grief. I respect
>both Masa and his contest club. I meant no disrespect to either Masa
>or his contest club over this situation.
>
>73
>
>Terry N4TZ, CQ WPX Contest Director
>
>This message was posted at 1701 UTC, October 27, 2017
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