Hi folks,
"Is there no responsibility for the organization of the CQ WW contest here"?
Let me show how a different contest organization deals with a similar
problem of contest stations cheating.
A little background. Weekend before last was the annual
Jamboree-On-The-Air. An event where Scouts, using hamradio equipment,
make radio contact with Scouts at other groups. I'm not sure this is a
big thing in the US of A given reports of "several hundred" JOTA
stations active; in the Netherlands (we're a much smaller country!) ,
there were over 170 radio stations active. Experience has learned this
is also a huge introduction in the hamradio hobby; in the group I am
supporting there are half a dozen Scouts with licenses; another half
dozen Scouts are in the process of getting theirs (up to "they only need
to do an exam which is already scheduled in weeks ahead"). As said, it
is a great way to introduce young people into our hobby (see the
discussion about introducing young people into our hobby on this list
just a few weeks ago).
However, there are challenges. Many years ago, when our neighbor country
Germany was still split up between West and East and the iron curtain
still existed, the East German radio club organized a contest in the
same weekend. When the iron curtain fell and East and West became one
Germany, the contest became "Worked All Germany" and suddenly our Scouts
doing their first hamradio experiences had to compete the band with
contest stations next door giving their best.
The bands now have "contest-free segments" and us JOTA stations operate
there, while outside these contest-free segments the contest runs in
full force. This allows co-existence and I am very happy for the WAG
contest organization to support us.
That leaves the issues of contest stations cheating, and this is where
responsibility of the contest organization kicks in. The WAG contest
organization, for some years now, makes SDR-recordings of the amateur
bands during the run of the contest. All the contest bands, for the full
run of the contest. In case of questions on claims of contest stations,
all it takes is to "rewind the recordings" to time and frequency to hear
what has happened.
And for us JOTA-stations, all it takes is for us to contact an
interfering contest station, gently remind them of the rules (I have
found that in the majority of cases this is sufficient), but for
persistent cases, send a report "station XXX was operating on frequency
YYY at time ZZZ" to the WAG contest organizer and I know that the
contest organizer has acted on these reports.
No need to get the equivalent of the FCC involved, no discussion if the
FCC should or should not, ARRL should or should not, and the process
works very well.
In this regard, I wonder if the organizer of the CQ WW contest is taking
their responsibility?
Keep in mind that "fair play" is part of the amateur radio values and
frankly it is a pity we need to have this discussion to begin with.
I do wonder why the CQ WW organizers are not taking their responsibility.
73,
Geert Jan PE1HZG
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