Multi-Ops Face New CQ WW DX Rules on Same Band Signals; Lockouts Now Mandatory For All

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted October 22, 2011

The biggest new rule in this year's CQ WW DX Contests are aimed at multi-operators, trying to make sure that those stations aren't running too many signals on one band.

"If you're in the multi-category you can't have two signals on the same band at the same time," said CQ WW Contest Director Bob Cox K3EST.

Having more than one set of operators on one band at a multi-op is nothing new, as the larger operations use one team for CQ'ing and the other for Search and Pounce.

But those teams are not supposed to be transmitting at the same time.

While that wasn't an issue in the 2010 CQ WW SSB Contest, it was in the CW leg, as six different stations were bounced from the contest for violating the rule that says only one signal on a band is allowed at any time.

In order to make sure that more than one signal is not on the same band at the same time, CQ WW is now requiring some kind of "lockout" device, which makes sure that only one signal can be transmitted.

"What this means is that you just can't wing it," said Cox in a recent CQ WW Webinar.

"You can't have two guys on the same band nudging each other when one is going to transmit," said Cox. "We've all done this over the years, we've all known that this leads to error."

The new rule reads like this: "For all multi-operator categories: when two or more transmitters are present on a band, either a software or hardware device MUST be used to prevent more than one signal at any one time."

If you don't have that, CQ WW has provided schematics and instructions to build a lockout device on the CQ WW web site - here's one example from AD5X:

The lack of a working lockout caused Team W2RE to get a Yellow Card in last year's CQ WW CW test, as members of the multi-op found their hardware didn't work.

"We found that even though the N1MM network lockout we were using was operating correctly we discovered that the paddle that was hooked into the 2nd radio overrode the network lockout," the team told radio-sport.net.

In other words, it allowed two signals to be on the air on the same band at the same time.

Recent advances in technology have made it much easier for contest committees to find stations that are using two signals at the same time, as this year saw DQ's in the Russian DX Contest as well, all because of audio evidence.

"Last year was a sort of a breakthrough year for technology," said K3EST, as the CQ WW contest committee can now "utilize global SDR networks to be able to record the whole contest from various locations around the world."

Cox says that allows log checkers to listen to an entire band in real time.

"You can imagine that all this information is highly interesting," Cox said, "not the least of which is to find two signal on the air."