In the Golden Years of competing in the major DX contests: CQWW , ARRL DX , CQ WPX, to win the world as Single Operator/ All Bands, was considered by many to be "the" pinnacle of success.
More than a few of us, motivated to 'try just one more time', left family and friends at home, lugged more than a few pieces of overweight luggage to some remote island or far-off land, and pretended the
cooked goose we were eating was almost as good as Thanksgiving Turkey back home.
48 hours of pain and effort; all for fun and No. 1, World.
And, for me, my competition was simply The Best SO/AB DX Contest Operators in the World
(I cannot begin to name them all, but those who gave me the hardest time): K0DQ , W2GD , CT1BOH , OH2MM AI6V , OH2BH , N6AA , N6KT , KH6IJ , K6NA , N5KO , N6TR , N5TJ , 4L5A , KH6ND, W2SC, well you get the picture................
Many decades later, I'm still trekking to Hawaii, or some Caribbean Island, or back to Ascension Island, or somewhere "fun".
But for me, SO/AB, and my dozen World High's in SO/AB, are in the Ancient History column.
Today, I simply refuse to give today's egregious cheaters one scintilla of satisfaction.
I believe that SO/AB has been essentially ruined by (1) a couple of clowns - seemingly joined at the hip, or ?? who are ALWAYS at the same station, together, one supposedly SO/AB, while the other applies the cold compresses,
or mixes the vodka and iced tea? or?? and (2) the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", CQ WW and CQ WPX Contest Directors who seem to possess the deer in the headlights' symptom rather than proffering solutions to this rampant cheating that seemingly the entire rest of the world, that's awake or cares, that is, knows about - but not they.............
Where's the "proof", many ask?
Some like Tonno ES5TV did (read NS3T's Radio.Sport.net).
One year Chief Clown is DQed (you have to get your magnifying glass out to read the fine print). The next year, we're all to believe that he's the Elmer Gantry of 2011, has found repentance, and is suddenly legal and No. 1? C'mon out, I have some prime California Real Estate to sell you.........
I thought the recent CQ WPX CW 3830 posting of EF8M (RD3A - single operator, natch), especially poignant (or nauseating, your call) when he actually congratulated himself for his new world record !!
And I remember so vividly in 1970, anxious to know if I had won the 1969 CQ WW SSB and CW contests - I
had to wait at least six months for a phone call to W1WY, before I could 'congratulate' myself.
Ah, these wondrous days of social media and instant gratification.
Meanwhile, as I understand from my (usually) reliable sources- in Russia: the CQ WW and WPX contests have pretty much become the laughing- stock of the continent, as the cheaters congratulate themselves on their grand achievements
And our leadership keeps on a-leading..................
Reminds me of the Judy Collins song, with its final words: "Send in the Clowns, Don't Bother They're Here"
Faithfully,
Jim Neiger N6TJ