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Grappling with how best to deal in the future with high profile disqualifications in the 2008 CQ WW DX Contests, the CQ WW Contest Committee has decided to toughen the punishments for all of those who are DQ'd, by broadening the penalties into other tests run by CQ Magazine.
"Disqualification of an entrant in any CQ contest will lead to a check-log status in all CQ contests for a period of one year," states the new language included in the "Disqualification" section of the 2009 CQ WW DX Contest rules.
The one year of "ineligibility will commence with the publication of the disqualified entrant's callsign," which would mean that a DQ in the 2009 CQ WW DX SSB contest would keep that operator from winning any awards in CQ WW, CQ WPX, CQ 160 and CQ VHF contests from August of 2010 to August of 2011.
"I fully support the CQWW efforts to detect and punish those who break the rules in contests," said Randy Thompson K5ZD, the director of the CQ WPX Contest.
"Contesting is a game that relies on the integrity of the participants. The responsibility belongs to all participants -- both to follow the rules and to report those who are breaking the rules," Thompson told radio-sport.net.
As for whether WPX would adopt the new language on DQ penalties or the more landmark CQ WW change that could require a third person visit during the contest for some suspected of cheating, Thompson wasn't sure.
"I have not had a chance to review the new CQWW rules in detail yet. I won't make any final decisions about WPX rules until October," Thompson added.
The highlight of the rules changes for 2009 is the addition of language that threatens an in-person visit during a contest for operations suspected of cheating.
"A competitor who wishes to be judged for a top score in their category must agree to a potential visitation at any time during the contest by an observer appointed by the CQ WW Contest Committee," the rule states. So far, it's drawn a mixed reaction.
"If the CQWW Contest Committee wants to monitor suspected cheats, they should require around-the-clock video cam monitoring. It's not intrusive, and either vindicates or proves allegations against contesters under scrutiny,"said Sandy Farley N7RQ.
Others wondered if such checks could also focus on something other than questions about the suspected use of multiple operators for a single operator entry.
"This could maybe end the "realy ultra xxl high power usage" of some stations," said Helmut Mueller DF7ZS.
"The rules clearly state some power borders, but almost nobody takes them for real."
The new rule was recently agreed to by the CQ WW Contest Committee, and was posted as part of the 2009 rules update that can be accessed from the home page of CQ Magazine.
Now as for why the language of the rule changed on the CQ website just within the past week, there was no public explanation offered by the CQ WW Contest Committee.
Here is the original rule:
"A competitor contacted by the CQ WW Contest Committee prior to the contest must agree to a scheduled visitation by a representative of the CQ WW CC during the contest. Failure of the entrant to respond to our correspondence or to allow an observer full access to the contest QTH will result in the entrant’s call being removed from award eligibility for 5 years."
This past week, that was changed to:
"A competitor who wishes to be judged for a top score in their category must agree to a potential visitation at any time during the contest by an observer appointed by the CQ WW Contest Committee. Failure of the entrant to respond to our correspondence or to allow an observer full access to the contest QTH may result in the competitor being removed from award eligibility for 3 years."
For those of you looking to focus on something other than rules issues and the 2009 CQ WW DX Contests, how about the lack of sunspots over the past month?
The last time a sunspot was observed was July 11. Since then, the number of sunspot-less days has stretched to over 35, pushing the number of spotless days to almost 180 in 2009, according to spaceweather.com.
Not only are solar researchers taking note of the lack of sunspots, but also the makeup of those few that have surfaced in recent years.
"The vigor of sunspots, in terms of magnetic strength and area, has greatly diminished," wrote W. Livingston and M. Penn in a publication of the American Geophysical Union.
"Something is unusual about the current sunspot cycle," the two said, noting the current solar minimum has been "unusally long."
"Whether this is an omen of long-term sunspot decline, analogous to the Maunder Minimum, remains to be seen," they added.
So far in 2009, the sun has been spotless on 78% of the days this year. That is a higher rate than the 73% in 2008, which was the quietest year on the sun since 1913, which had 311 days without sunspots, 85% of that year.
If you're wondering whether the sun is close to breaking any records, the answer is not right now.
"The 100-year record is 92 consecutive spotless days in April, May and June of 1913," says information on spaceweather.com.
If the streak reaches 42 straight days, that would be the tenth longest run of spotless days ever recorded.
For ham radio contesters, the dormant sun means more depressed conditions on the high bands, and more crowding on 20 meters.
