Click here for RSS feeds or use the email signup form below to be notified about new radio-sport.net news updates
Donations are accepted. We appreciate the help!
After disqualifying three highly placed entries in the 2007 IARU HF Championships, ARRL officials are again publicly warning contesters around the world that log checks will be just as thorough this year.
"There will be continued emphasis on log adjudication in 2008," said ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko KX9X.
"Stations claiming exceptional results should be prepared to have their log undergo thorough examination," he added in a statement.
ARRL CEO David Sumner K1ZZ emphasized that stance as well during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., telling radio-sport.net, "We made our point with our enforcement," and vowing to do the same again.
The three who were disqualified all had claimed scores that were no lower than third in their 2007 categories, and two had won titles the year before:
The writeup in QST Magazine simply said, "The following were disqualified for submitting logs deemed incompatible with the category entered."
The disqualification was a double blow to all three stations, as it also made them ineligible to qualify for the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships in Russia.
Meanwhile, ARRL officials publicly confirmed what was reported first by radio-sport.net four weeks ago, that the controversial CW Skimmer can be used by single operators in the IARU.
"For the 2008 event, any Single Operator station that uses Skimmer (and does not use spotting assistance) will be placed in the Single-Operator category," said the ARRL's Kutzko.
"This accommodation of Skimmer technology for the 2008 IARU HF Championship does not imply in any way the permanent acceptance of Skimmer's use in Single-Operator category operation in ARRL Contests," Kutzko explained.
ARRL officials have said "local" use of the Skimmer with your station's antennas is okay for the IARU, but not a connection to a remote Skimmer somewhere else around the world.
"Since there is no Single-Operator Assisted category, anyone using external assistance through packet or the internet should enter as a Multi-Operator entry, and, as in the past, the entry may be re-categorized or disqualified if assistance is not declared," said Kutzko.
The announcement hardly created a ripple in contest ranks, coming two days after administrators of the CQ-Contest reflector blocked further Skimmer messages and set up a new Skimmer reflector.
After weeks of an at times bitter back and forth, the new reflector had mustered only 16 messages in six days.
LY6M - Mixed Low Power
HG5Y - Mixed QRP
EA8/OH4NL - HP SSB Only
HG8R - LP SSB Only
HG1W (HA1WD) - QRP SSB Only
CU2A (OH2UA) - HP CW Only
YU7W (YT7AW) - LP CW Only
HG5A (HA5IW) - QRP CW Only
P33W - Multioperator
DA0HQ - HQ Station
"At its May 2007 meeting the IARU Administrative Council discussed various issues related to the event and asked that the ARRL devote the resources necessary to maintain a high standard of adjudication.
"A condition of entry in the IARU HF World Championship is that each entrant agrees to be bound by the provisions of the announced rules, by the regulations of his/her licensing authority, and by the decisions of the ARRL Awards Committee acting for the IARU International Secretariat.
"Leading competitors should expect their entries to be carefully scrutinized. If exceptional results are claimed, entrants must be prepared to explain how they were achieved."
