CQ WW Contest Committee Continues Cheating Crackdown In 2010 CQ WW SSB Final Results

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted August 12, 2011

The cheating crackdown started several years ago by the CQ World Wide Contest Committee showed no signs of easing up, as the newly-issued results of the 2010 CQ WW SSB Contest included three Red Card and two Yellow Card violations.

Red Cards:

4L5O – unverifiable contacts

RT5Z (RA3CW) - unverifiable contacts

E79D – unclaimed assistance and unverifiable contacts

Yellow Cards:

RZ3AXX (RA3AKT) - unclaimed assistance

RN4SN – unclaimed assistance

The seven penalties came from three different CQ zones - 15, 16 and 21. In 2009, they covered zones 8, 14, 15 and 16.

The three "Red Cards" issued for the 2010 SSB test were fewer than the seven handed out in the scoring of the 2009 CQ WW SSB; two "Yellow Cards" were given, compared to four a year ago.

But the get-tough policy had the intended effect on possible rules violators, as all but one of the eleven hams who received Red and Yellow cards for the 2009 CQ WW SSB did not submit a log for the 2010 SSB test.

The results writeup in the August 2011 edition of CQ Magazine included the usual warning from the CQ WW Contest Committee, reminding contesters from around the world to observe the rules of this giant contest.

"If you plan to try to make the Top Scores box, you can count on your log being carefully checked for rule compliance. Your competitors are relying on fair play," read the not too subtle reminder.

"The CQ WW has at its disposal many methods to verify the score of an entrant and ensure a fair contest," read the warning.

The use of the Red & Yellow Card system - based on international rules for football/soccer matches has been popular with many contesters; it started with the 2009 CQ WW contests.

54 Stations Moved To Assisted Category

The CQ World Wide Contest Committee also again this year listed a number of stations who had acknowledged the use of outside assistance in their entry, agreeing to change their status to "Assisted."

54 different stations from around the world were moved into Assisted; it was not immediately clear how many were a simple submission error by the entrant.

Here is the list of the 54 stations that were moved into the Assisted category by the CQ WW Contest Committee fo rthe 2010 CQ WW DX SSB Contest:

4XØA, 5N7M, 6V7T, 9A3XV, CT1AOZ, CT1BOL, DL3VZL, DM3MM, E73M, EA7LL, EE3E, EI0A, EU3AR, HA5BSW, HA7YS, I5FCK, II5W, JT5DX, KØRH, K2TE, K4KZZ, KI4LTO, LA2XPA, LT4S, LZ3CB, N3UA, OE9ICI, OK2SAR, RA1AL, SN8R, SO9Q, SP1RKT, SP3LWP, SP4TKR, UA1AFT, UT3SA, UT7E, UT7QL, UT7Y, UT8LN, UW5ZM, UW9L, UX2X, VA3PL, W3FW, W6AFA, W6SR, W7ISG, W7UT, WP3C, YV5LI, Z37M and ZF2AH.

One of those moved into Assisted after log checks for the 2009 test was Ted Jiminez HI3TEJ; he denied any wrongdoing and returned for the 2010 CQ WW SSB, producing the top worldwide score in the low power category.