Public log analysis has raised serious questions about suspected pirate callsigns, disputed multipliers, and how the world’s premier radiosport competition should respond.
Has anyone considered contacting the owners of the suspected call signs? They should be able to provide valuable information if they were or were not in the contest.
There are some additional things that could be done to check on these results.
If there are significant numbers of RBN reports of the suspect stations, they could be examined to see whether the pattern of RBN reception is consistent with the supposed locations of the stations.
Another would come into play if there are any aircheck recordings of the QSOs with the suspect stations. Transmitters have distinct signatures that can be identified; rise and fall times, key clicks, lengthening or shortening of code elements, and so forth. If multiple suspect callsigns came from a single pirate operator, it might be possible to identify that.
The fact that the pirates (if that's what they are) only operated on CW adds to the level of suspicion. They might have avoided SSB because it would have been too difficult to disguise that a single operator was responsible.
First question to my mind is did any team or operator benefit from the code pirate? Is the difference between the first and second place teams and the third place team significant?
1. So far, there is no evidence that any of the teams colluded with the pirate.
2. If that holds up, no team should be penalized.
3. However, strong steps need to be taken to (A) identify the pirate and (B) form a response that will discourage this kind of activity in the future.
4. WRTC should retain a professional HF forensics firm to handle 3(A). There are several to choose among in Europe. It won't be cheap, but as has been mentioned many times, WRTC itself is not inexpensive. The results from this will definitively resolve 1 and 2.
Has anyone considered contacting the owners of the suspected call signs? They should be able to provide valuable information if they were or were not in the contest.
There are some additional things that could be done to check on these results.
If there are significant numbers of RBN reports of the suspect stations, they could be examined to see whether the pattern of RBN reception is consistent with the supposed locations of the stations.
Another would come into play if there are any aircheck recordings of the QSOs with the suspect stations. Transmitters have distinct signatures that can be identified; rise and fall times, key clicks, lengthening or shortening of code elements, and so forth. If multiple suspect callsigns came from a single pirate operator, it might be possible to identify that.
The fact that the pirates (if that's what they are) only operated on CW adds to the level of suspicion. They might have avoided SSB because it would have been too difficult to disguise that a single operator was responsible.
First question to my mind is did any team or operator benefit from the code pirate? Is the difference between the first and second place teams and the third place team significant?
I just want to know where it goes. When I read Kevin’s article it gave me Stuxnet vibes.
Kevin, great writeup.
My thinking at the moment:
1. So far, there is no evidence that any of the teams colluded with the pirate.
2. If that holds up, no team should be penalized.
3. However, strong steps need to be taken to (A) identify the pirate and (B) form a response that will discourage this kind of activity in the future.
4. WRTC should retain a professional HF forensics firm to handle 3(A). There are several to choose among in Europe. It won't be cheap, but as has been mentioned many times, WRTC itself is not inexpensive. The results from this will definitively resolve 1 and 2.
--Paul K6PO