[SFDXA] CONTEST BOTS vs HUMANS

[JACK]

73 & Gud DX

K4WSB  /C6A VP2MSB

#1 DXCC 340/357

(Reposted from another list: an interesting opinion a d subject)

BOTS vs HUMANS

 

(Long)

 

BOTS vs HUMANS: A Wake-Up call to preserve contesting

I would like to share publicly the letter I sent to the Contest Committees a week ago regarding my concerns about the use of QSO-bots in our competitions.
This issue affects ALL contests, and for now the letter was sent only to CQWW, CQ WPX, and ARRL.

I want to thank AA3B (CQ WPX Director) and K1AR (CQWW Director) for their quick responses. Their willingness to listen, their concern, and their commitment to look into this matter show clearly that they care just as much as I do—just as much as so many of us do—about keeping our contests fair and human.

I do not claim to have all the answers, nor do I believe my perspective is the only correct one. These are simply my personal thoughts, shared by many colleagues who privately expressed agreement and concern.

What I can express with total conviction is my deepest rejection of these forms of cheating, which have been among us for a long time. Many of us knew they existed, but until a week ago no one had ever publicly exposed the reality with clear evidence. That silence allowed the problem to grow in the shadows, and now it’s time to bring full transparency. And I really wish the problem were just that obsoleted bot that was published last week… the real problem is the truly advanced ones, which go far beyond any human capabilities and work in any mode.

Everything that can help detect or prevent the use of bots should become mandatory as soon as possible. The tools exist, the evidence is there, and protecting the integrity of radiosport requires decisive action.

My intention in making this letter public is to help, to raise awareness, and to support those who are already working on the issue. I firmly believe we all want the same thing: contests that remain a competition between humans.

If what I express here resonates with you, please leave your callsign in the comments.

If you have ideas or suggestions on how to better protect our contests, please feel free to share them on the comments. 

The future of genuine, human radiosport depends on all of us—together—speaking up and defending it! 

————

SUBJECT: Action Required against Autonomous Robots + Log Deadline + Scoreboard

Dear CQWW / CQ WPX / ARRL Contest Committee Members,

I am writing to raise an urgent and extremely serious concern affecting the integrity of radiosport across all modes.

Until now, autonomous contest robots existed only privately, in limited experimental form, and were never publicly released or openly distributed.

That changed today.

On this date, Marijan, S56A / N1YU, publicly posted and shared documentation on his facebook for a fully autonomous CW contest robot, capable of copying callers, issuing replies, changing frequency, and logging QSOs without any human intervention.

This is the first time in the history of contesting that such a system has been released openly to the public.

The consequences of this action are profound and immediate:

• Anyone can now access and run a CW contest bot with minimal technical knowledge.

• The barrier to cheating has effectively dropped to zero.

• Contest integrity — across all modes — is now in jeopardy.

This issue extends far beyond CW.

Many operators with technical backgrounds are already aware that:

• RTTY bots are trivial to implement and have been used privately for years.

• SSB bots are now fully feasible using widely available technology:

• Modern and powerful speech-to-text engines can accurately decode a caller’s exchange,

• While high-quality text-to-speech systems generate natural, human-sounding replies, or even clones of an operator’s voice.

This means an SSB robot can already perform a complete contest QSO — listening, interpreting, replying, and logging entirely on its own.

These tools exist today, and several are freely accessible.

Many contest committees may not realize the urgency OR the current technological reality.

This is not speculation and not a future threat.

This is a problem that already exists — and as of today, is publicly accessible.

We therefore request immediate clarity and leadership from the Contest Committees on the following essential points:

- Is the Committees aware that autonomous S&P robots now exist for CW, RTTY, and SSB, and that one has been publicly released today?

- What measures are currently in place to detect automated operation across all modes?

- Are logs analyzed for machine signatures — timing regularity, deterministic decision-making, latency patterns, or non-human rhythmic behavior?

- Has the Committee investigated stations suspected of using bots to achieve unusual rates or new records that has been set in recent operations?

- What actions will be taken now that the first publicly available CW contest robot has been released, lowering the barrier to cheating for thousands of operators?

- Will the Committee issue an immediate public statement explicitly banning and condemning autonomous contest robots as cheating?

- What rule updates, enforcement tools, or penalties are being considered to protect human competition going forward?

Additional Urgent Concern: 
Log Deadlines, Post-Processing Automation, Category Shopping, and Transparency

Modern automated tools can now analyze wide-band recordings, reconstruct contest activity, and correct logs in only a few hours. In this environment:

A five or seven day log deadline not only gives everyone the opportunity to re-listen to the entire contest and correct whatever they need, but is also no longer compatible with today's technological reality.
Even few hours is now a very long window for automated log-correction systems.

Submitting a log takes no more time than making a handful of QSOs.

There is no operational justification for extended deadlines, except maintaining a mechanism for legitimate exception requests — which should continue.

A shorter deadline also minimizes category shopping, a well-known practice made possible only because operators have days to reinterpret their entry category after the contest. Reducing the deadline drastically limits this behavior and aligns radiosport with modern competitive standards.

---------

Scoreboard Transparency

A shorter deadline naturally supports real-time transparency. And transparency is something the contesting community is clearly demanding.

Across social media in recent months, there have been numerous posts and discussions — backed by several top contesters — expressing strong support for making the online scoreboard, including full breakdowns, mandatory at this stage.

As operators view the scoreboard as an essential tool for fairness, visibility, public trust and real-time analysis. 

If the Committee is unwilling (for reasons not publicly explained) to make the scoreboard mandatory, we strongly recommend that the rules at least:

- explicitly recognize scoreboard participation as a valuable act of good faith, and

- encourage its use as a standard element of modern contesting.

Scoreboard would modernize contest oversight and align official rules with the expectations of the global contesting community.

-------

A critical recommendation: Integrate experts in modern technologies.

Given the complexity of AI, DSP, SDR architectures, voice recognition, and automation tools, we strongly recommend that contest committees:

• incorporate qualified technical experts capable of understanding and detecting these systems,

• establish a dedicated working group on automation and bot detection,

• and deploy modern analytical tools to identify non-human operating behaviors.

Without such expertise, it will be nearly impossible to confront the challenges now emerging.

The essence of radiosport is human skill. Removing humans destroys the sport.

These technologies eliminate:

• copying ability

• rate management

• fatigue handling

• strategic decision-making

• operating discipline

• real-time human performance

Replacing these with autonomous scripts or AI systems turns radiosport into a competition between machines, not people.

Certain contests categories already have continental and world records that were achieved because the help of autonomous S&P bots. 

If contest committees continues to remain silent and take no concrete actions, scores, records, and the very credibility of competition will lose all meaning.

We urge the Committee to act immediately and publicly.

Those of us who care deeply about radiosport are committed to preserving the human element of our sport.

We ask — with the utmost respect and urgency — that the Committee demonstrates commitment through transparency, expertise, and decisive leadership at this very critical moment.

Respectfully,

Manu Siebert (LU9ESD / AC1NU)

On behalf of many of us who defend the human integrity of radiosport.

______________________________________________________________
South Florida DX Assoc. Since 1974
SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
SFDXA Website: www.SFDXA.com
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