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A little known provision in the rules for the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships means that five operators who were disqualified from WRTC qualifying contests over the past two years are now ineligible to participate in the WRTC competition in Russia.
Four of the five European ops are also WRTC veterans, including two who have been to the WRTC three times.
"TL/TM (Team Leader/Team Member) disqualified from any listed contests in period from July 2006 will lose the right to apply," states the rule in Section 8 of the WRTC 2010 rules put together by the Russian sponsors.
"The organizers should be commended for not ducking the issue but taking the right stand against cheaters," said Alexander Avramov LZ4AX.
According to that rule, here are the five ops now out of the WRTC qualifying process:
UU0JM - disqualified from 2007 CQ WPX CW
UT5UGR - disqualified from 2007 IARU
HA1DAC - disqualified from 2007 IARU
9A9A - disqualified from 2007 IARU
RW3QC - disqualified from 2006 CQWW DX CW
2006 WRTC competitor Andi Kazantsev UU0JM is the latest high profile DQ to be announced, as he was knocked out of the 2007 CQ WPX CW contest, in recently released results.
"Violations of rule IV.1.(a)" read the notice at the end of the WPX CW article in CQ Magazine.
That provision means that two of the top seven WRTC qualifiers in the EU #4 region are out. Kazantsev UU0JM is currently in 2nd place and Dimitry Stashuk UT5UGR, who was DQ'd in the 2007 IARU is in 7th. UT5UGR is a three-time WRTC competitor, in 2006, 2000 and 1996.
Another former WRTC participant who evidently won't be back in 2010 is Jack Danielyan RW3QC. The two time WRTC participant is in 45th place in qualifying in the all European Russia region EU #5.
His CQWW DQ had been publicly challenged by 2010 WRTC organizer Igor "Harry" Booklan RA3AUU.
"A dirty game against a friend of mine," wrote Booklan on the CQ-Contest reflector. "Unfortunately, the DQ decision was taken without single evidence but just rumors."
It's not clear if RW3QC could still participate as one of the wild card teams that will be named by the Russian sponsors.
The last of the three ops disqualified from the 2007 IARU, Emil Balen 9A9A, was not an overall threat in WRTC qualifying at this point. Balen, a three time WRTC competitor himself, currently is in 67th place in WRTC region EU #4.
The issue of contest DQ's has sparked a lot of conversation in contest ranks in recent years, as allegations of cheating have spiked.
"There were more complaints than usual after the 2006 contest about possible cheating in the IARU," said ARRL Contest Director Sean Kutzko KX9X.
The 2010 WRTC qualifying rule on DQ's increases the pressure on various contest committees, which have been criticized for not being aggressive enough on cheating.
Now, a DQ not only strips the operator of awards in that particular contest, but also removes that operator from the 2010 WRTC competition.
"Violatings of Rule IV.1.(a)" was the short explanation in the March 2008 issue of CQ Magazine.
That rule states:
"One person performs all of the operating, logging, and, for the Assisted category only, spotting functions. Only one transmitted signal is allowed at any time. Maximum power allowed is 1500 watts total output."
It was not clear which part of the rule UU0JM was determined to have violated.
In a statement in the WPX SSB results article, WPX Contest Chairman Steve Merchant K6AW wrote, "The committee disqualified one high-scoring (top 15) entry, reduced some scores and issued written warnings to other contestants."
Merchant did not respond to an email from radio-sport.net seeking more information about the UU0JM DQ.
According to a review of WPX SSB results on the CQ WPX web site, this was the first publicly announced disqualification in the WPX SSB contest since 1998, when RE0A was DQ'd for "excessive unverifiable QSOs."
CQ Magazine contest rules state that if an operator is disqualified twice in a five year period, "he or she will be ineligible for any CQ contest awards for three years."
CQ WPX SSB Contest
0000z-2400z May 24-25;
more at the
WPX web site. WRTC weight value of 740 points.
