Sanctioning Committee Statement on the WRTC 2022 Results
Following publication of the WRTC 2026 Judging Committee report on 1 September 2026, the WRTC 2022 Organising Committee referred the 2023 results to the WRTC Sanctioning Committee (SC). The SC formed a working group to examine the 2023 logs using the methods described in the 2026 report. The SC has accepted the working group’s findings and has decided as follows.
The 2023 scheme
Appendix 5 of the 2026 report describes what was found in 2023: the winning team’s 20-metre starting frequency was held for the final hour before the start by a callsign that submitted no log, appears in no other log, and was never heard again. There was also a group of callsigns from rare entities, none of which submitted a log or appeared elsewhere in the 5,589 logs submitted for the 2023 IARU contest, that delivered multiplier contacts to WRTC teams.
The 2026 report identified 22 callsigns [from WRTC-2023] that were believed to be fraudulent.
From Appendix 5 of the 2026 report:
“I44W’s 20-meter starting frequency was held and transferred in the same manner as shown in the examples in Appendix 2. YQ5W appeared at 11:01z, settled on 14001.8 kHz, and called CQ there continuously through the final hour before the start, last spotted at 11:59:52z. I44W’s first logged contact of the contest is in the 12:00z minute on that frequency, where it then ran. YQ5W submitted no log, is not listed as an operator in any of the 5,589 logs submitted for that contest, appears in no other
station’s log, and was never spotted again. I44W’s operators were VE3DZ and UW7LL. I44W was the declared winner of the 2023 event.”
“The following are now believed to be multipliers fraudulently injected into logs at WRTC-2023 in the same manner as occurred in WRTC-2026: 4J3DJ, 4K6OF, 4L4DX, 9H1XT, 9K2MU, A41JZ, A61ZX, A65DR, BX4AG, CO2SG, EK3GM, ER0FEO, EX8MJ, FM5FE, HZ1BH, OA4EA, OD5PY, SV9CJO, TK5CH (and its miscopy TK5CS), YV5EN, ZP5DPA — plus YB8RVI and ZA1AK, genuine entrants whose callsigns were pirated.
The pirated QSOs are refuted by the owners’ own submitted logs. The 22 callsigns produced an average of 9.3 QSOs for each of the 58 WRTC-2023 stations — 540 in all.
Of those, 53 went to the I44W (VE3DZ & UW7LL) team, with most resulting in a multiplier.”
The SC working group examined every contact with those callsigns in all 58 team logs. They made 540 contacts with WRTC teams, an average of nine per team. Two teams stand apart. I44W (UW7LL, VE3DZ) received 46 of them, worth 37 multipliers. I43Z (RW7K, RA9P) received 27, worth 25 multipliers. The next team received 19. The callsigns also divide cleanly into two groups: sixteen all worked I44W, and the other seven never worked I44W, and all worked I43Z. The pattern is the same one the 2026 Judging Committee found for MB2M and MB2A, and it can be verified from the public logs.
- The removal list in Appendix 5 of the 2026 Judging Committee report the 21 callsigns named there plus the TK5CS miscopy, 22 in all. Every contact any team made with those callsigns is removed as a pirate contact, with no penalty, at rule 7 points (CW 2/5, SSB 3/6).
- YB8RVI and ZA1AK, the two genuine entrants named in Appendix 5 whose callsigns were pirated, are not removed again. Their pirated contacts are refuted by the owners’ own logs and were already scored as not-in-log in 2023, so they are already out of the official numbers.
- A DXCC multiplier is removed only where the team had no other credited contact with that entity on that band. HQ stations do not preserve a DXCC multiplier (rule 8.2).
- The 2023 cheerleading deductions are kept as set by the 2023 JC.
The rules
The WRTC 2022 competition rules are, in the relevant clauses, word for word the same as the 2026 rules. Rule 12.2 prohibits a team from revealing its identity in any way and states that doing so may result in immediate disqualification. Rule 12.7 permits disqualification for taking credit for excessive unverifiable QSOs or unverifiable multipliers.
Decision
I44W (UW7LL, VE3DZ) is disqualified under Rule 12.2 for the arranged transfer of its starting frequency, which required the team’s identity and starting frequency to be known in advance, and under Rule 12.7 for the multipliers it took credit for from the callsigns above.
I43Z (RW7K, RA9P) is disqualified under Rule 12.7 for the multipliers it took credit for from the callsigns above. Twenty-five multipliers from a group of callsigns that served this team is excessive within the meaning of the rule.
As in 2026, the disqualifications apply to the teams, not to individual operators. The SC makes no finding about who operated the callsigns in question.
The revised results are:
1. I43C DJ5MW DL1IAO 6,968,632
2. I49D 9A7DX 9A3LG 6,584,256
3. I47M F8DBF F1AKK 6,450,120
[Revised score table below.] These results replace the results announced in July 2023.
The SC congratulates DJ5MW and DL1IAO as champions of WRTC 2022, and 9A7DX/9A3LG and F8DBF/F1AKK as second and third.
The 2023 Judging Committee adjudicated the logs with the tools and time available to it and could not have seen this pattern. It became visible only when the 2026 Judging Committee developed methods to find the same scheme in 2026 and then applied them to the 2023 logs.
Tine Brajnik, S50A
Chairman, WRTC Sanctioning Committee
Basis: official adjudicated scores (wrtc2022.it/wrtc_2022_final_scores.pdf) minus each team's contacts with the 22 pirate callsigns (JC-2026 report Appendix 5). Pirate contacts removed without penalty; points per rule 7 (CW 2/5, SSB 3/6); a multiplier removed only where no credited genuine contact with that entity remained on the band. 2023 cheerleading
deductions kept. Disqualified: I43Z, I44W.
Rank Team Operators Official OffRk PirQ PirPts PirMults Deduct Rescored Change
1 I43C DJ5MW DL1IAO 7,005,690 2 4 17 2 0 6,968,632 +1
2 I49D 9A7DX 9A3LG 6,655,540 3 5 22 4 0 6,584,256 +1
3 I47M F8DBF F1AKK 6,581,376 4 9 39 8 0 6,450,120 +1
4 I42M ZR2A DL9EE 6,254,448 6 3 15 3 0 6,206,655 +2
5 I47L OM3BH OM3GI 6,311,240 5 7 35 7 0 6,198,995 +0
6 I42G K5ZD W2SC 5,945,800 8 4 17 3 0 5,897,373 +2
7 I47V SV2DSJ LZ3FN 5,986,444 7 7 35 7 0 5,878,497 +0
8 I44X EC2DX CT1ILT 5,831,630 13 4 20 2 0 5,796,900 +5
9 I49M NN3W N3QE 5,852,952 11 4 20 4 0 5,791,124 +2
10 I47K LY4A OM3RM 5,855,040 10 7 35 7 0 5,744,545 +0
11 I49A KD4D KE3X 5,843,929 12 10 50 8 0 5,714,307 +1
12 I42V IZ1LBG IK3QAR 5,758,560 15 5 22 4 0 5,695,824 +3
13 I43R UA4FER LZ2HM 5,777,520 14 6 24 6 0 5,685,048 +1
14 I42W NP4Z N2NT 5,662,868 18 4 20 3 0 5,614,675 +4
15 I49K KI6RRN N5ZO 5,679,252 17 5 22 5 0 5,604,768 +2
16 I42R OR2F LZ4AX 5,629,562 19 7 32 5 0 5,552,664 +3
17 I43K W2GD AA3B 5,710,382 16 14 58 14 0 5,507,100 -1
18 I41M RM9I UN9L 5,508,193 24 2 10 2 0 5,478,441 +6
19 I46Q SP7GIQ SP7IVO 5,593,870 20 9 39 9 0 5,460,370 +1
20 I42B E77DX E70T 5,536,245 21 7 32 5 0 5,458,152 +1
21 I47P JH5GHM WA1Z 5,512,249 22 8 31 7 0 5,411,632 +1
22 I44Z AD6E K6XX 5,484,195 25 6 24 6 0 5,396,397 +3
23 I46V DL5AXX DL7FER 5,465,706 26 7 26 6 0 5,381,824 +3
24 I46J RA3CO RA3AUU 5,512,140 23 10 41 10 0 5,372,068 -1
25 I41R KO8SCA S55M 5,421,600 28 5 22 4 0 5,361,984 +3
26 I44C LZ1NK LZ4AE 5,459,661 27 10 41 9 0 5,326,524 +1
27 I44Q VE5MX VE3EJ 5,414,360 29 10 42 7 0 5,307,960 +2
28 I44Y ZL3CW VK2IA 5,380,380 30 9 39 7 0 5,274,774 +2
29 I42L KU1CW EB5A 5,188,519 32 4 21 4 0 5,129,678 +3
30 I47O N2IC HA3NU 5,267,352 31 13 56 11 0 5,101,926 +1
31 I46F EA8RM EA2W 5,166,420 33 7 35 6 0 5,078,124 +2
32 I49R GD4XUM G3NKC 5,131,456 34 10 38 8 0 5,015,430 +2
33 I41D 4O3A 9A3A 5,100,850 35 7 32 7 0 5,003,460 +2
34 I44G 4X6FR 4X1DX 5,024,400 36 5 25 4 0 4,966,500 +2
35 I43L YU5EEA 9A3SMS 4,978,617 38 4 20 3 0 4,932,020 +3
36 I47B M0SDV DK6SP 4,936,840 40 5 22 2 0 4,903,962 +4
37 I42D S53MM S57K 4,907,664 41 3 15 2 0 4,876,872 +4
38 I42F EW6W EU1A 4,952,186 39 10 44 10 780 4,809,600 +1
39 I43O YL3JA UR5YKO 5,001,345 37 19 83 17 0 4,759,208 -2
40 I41N VR2XAN IK2PFL 4,768,395 45 3 12 3 0 4,729,122 +5
41 I44B BA1RB BA4TB 4,838,472 42 9 45 8 0 4,725,600 +1
42 I46Y 9M6NA K5WA 4,836,832 43 11 52 8 0 4,722,600 +1
43 I43U E21EIC E29TGW 4,785,110 44 10 44 7 0 4,685,681 +1
44 I46C W1UE K1XM 4,707,622 48 4 20 4 0 4,654,554 +4
45 I43B VA2EW VA2WA 4,756,662 46 12 60 12 0 4,590,978 +1
46 I41U FY5FY F4DXW 4,727,444 47 12 54 12 0 4,564,064 +1
47 I47U JA1BJI JR2GRX 4,623,402 49 5 22 5 0 4,557,163 +2
48 I41K PY2NY PC3T/PY2SEX 4,495,410 51 4 20 3 0 4,453,625 +3
49 I42A CE2LR CE3CT 4,511,892 50 9 42 7 0 4,416,272 +1
50 I43G IZ8JAI IZ8FWN 4,477,967 52 7 35 6 0 4,397,140 +2
51 I46P NG0C AC0W 4,431,099 53 3 9 3 0 4,393,452 +2
52 I43V K4AB NN7CW 4,397,966 54 5 22 5 0 4,332,107 +2
53 I47C AD5A AB5EB 4,007,888 55 7 35 5 0 3,940,728 +2
54 I44P DL3ON EI5LA 3,944,017 57 2 10 2 0 3,919,953 +3
55 I47W NE9U K9CT 3,951,744 56 8 40 6 0 3,874,878 +1
56 I46O 5T5PA KF5EYY 3,893,440 58 11 52 8 0 3,790,080 +2
DQ I44W UW7LL VE3DZ 7,072,327 1 46 207 37 355 — DQ
DQ I43Z RW7K RA9P 5,945,500 9 27 108 25 293 — DQ