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Three Top Single Ops Disqualified in 2007 IARU Contest
By Jamie Dupree NS3T radio-sport.net
Posted February 18, 2008
Before the 2007 IARU Contest, the American Radio Relay League made clear that it would get tough on cheaters and the log checkers did exactly that, knocking out two defending single op champs from 2006.
"The following were disqualified for submitting logs deemed incompatible with the category entered," read the writeup in the March QST Magazine.
The disqualified stations were:
"There were more complaints than usual after the 2006 contest about possible cheating in the IARU," said ARRL Contest Director Sean Kutzko KX9X.
"The IARU did ask ARRL to look more closely at the logs from the 2007 running of the event and the ARRL complied with that request," added Kutzko.
All three stations that were DQ'd all had claimed scores that were no lower than third in their respective categories in 2007.
"With the help of various software tools and skilled assistants evaluating data manually, the Awards Committee decided that the operators of these stations submitted entries that were not compatible with the category of competition within which they chose to compete," said Kutzko.
While the ARRL did not offer details about that log analysis, sources indicated to radio-sport.net that the issues were related to extra operators at the stations.
That seemed to be the basis for one comment made on the spotting networks during the IARU contest.
"RU1A 14023.4 HA1KSA here and 28007 dual signal sta1212 14 Jul 2007"
RU1A's spot seems to accuse HA1KSA (HA1DAC op) of running simultaneous signals on both 10 and 20 meters. Two signals at the same time would obviously violate single operator rules.
Laszlo Muller HA1DAC was the defending Single Op Mixed High Power champ from 2006. His claimed score was third overall for 2007 before log checks and his disqualification.
The other two DQ's came from the Single Op High Power CW Only category, where 9A1A (9A9A op) was the defending champ from 2006.
Emil Balen 9A9A again had the high claimed score in 2007, but was disqualified in his bid for a contest repeat.
The DQ of 9A1A paved the way for Toni Linden CU2A/OH2UA to win the HP CW Only title in 2007.
Also disqualified was Dimitry Stashuk UT5UGR, who had the third highest claimed score in SOHP CW only.
In 2006, Stashuk competed from Brazil in the World Radiosport Team Championships that was run in conjunction with the IARU contest. He has qualified multiple times for the WRTC.
The decision of the IARU Contest committee means that 9A9A, UT5UGR and HA1DAC will not be allowed to compete for honors in the 2008 IARU Contest.
Rule 7.5 of the ARRL General HF Rules states: "Participants that are disqualified will be barred from submitting an entry in the next annual running of that specific contest."
In the 11 years of IARU Contest results posted on the ARRL web site, 2008 was the only time any station disqualifications had been publicly announced in the QST Magazine IARU story.
"Disqualifications are not something any contest sponsor or adjudicator takes lightly," said ARRL Contest Director Kutzko, "but in light of the great interest in this sport worldwide, and the increasing levels of sophistication shown by operators and station design, we will continue to refine log checking processes in an effort to improve the integrity of contest results.”