Hmmm ... Robot - What robot ? ... although somedays it feels like it.
Its just me on email after the contest and sometimes that is why
there is a delay.
Sam (the robot man)
VE5SF
On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:46:54 -0600, "Bart Ritchie (VE5CPU)" wrote:
Hi John and the rest of the CQ-Contest Reflector readers
Unlike many of the larger contest committees, we do not have a Contest
Robot to receive the log submissions. All logs come to the appropriate
email address for the contest and our "wetware" robot, the contest
manager, does a high level inspection of the log to determine if it is
in fact a Cabrillo like log or is some other format. Our experiences
agree with the many mentions of various log types received from the
subject "Bad Format Logs" of non standard logs, happens to us to the
tune of ~15% of the logs are not Cabrillo.
So our wetware robot is readily able to see a dual submission of the
actual category log and a check log where the operator decided to play
outside of their official category.
As to why did we implement such a rule? Over 35% (+/- 5%) of the logs
do not accurately describe the actual category operated in when
compared to the contents of the actual log. This is due to a large
number of elements including:
- software does not support the official RAC categories, there are a
lot of folks still using CT and it knows nothing of the official RAC
categories from the last 6 years or so, let along all the other
programs that don't get updated.
- software does not support RAC Cabrillo structure (missing the VHF
elements of our contest)
- entrant does not know how to edit their Cabrillo file for errors in
the header
- entrant did not understand the categories, a single mode log is
not the same as single op all band low power
- entrants select single op all band at the start, find band
conditions suck and only make single band contacts but do not change
the header info
- apparently confusion between single band and single model
and the list goes on. Hence our rules clarification that the log will
be taken based on it content and not strictly by the identification of
the category of entry. In order to minimize false NILs we asked for a
separate check logs.
If, in the future, we were to have robot software developed, it would
need to accommodate our rules and we would have to have the appropriate
logic that would make a unique log be a combination of the call signed
used for the entry and the mode of entry.
I suspect all contest committees use their rules to determine the logic
needed for their robots so if they do not elect to have a unique log
identifier based on multiple parameters then handling two log
submissions for different circumstances, like a main entry and a check
log, would not work.
With a two person management team and log checker we had to do
something to deal with the issue and this was the most straight forward
from a workload perspective.
73, Bart
RAC Canada Day Contest Manager
At 02:32 PM 7/27/2012, John Laney wrote:
Hello all: It took me a while, but I found the rules that contained
what I mentioned in my last post. The important part of that post to me
was that a contest Robot apparently could receive two logs for a single
contest from the same entrant, one as the resl log and one a check log
and not have the check log replace the real contest log submission.
That is what Mario, S56A, was stating the Robot should be able to do.
I have absolutely no problem submitting a log for one category and
leaving in other QSOs on other bands or modes for log checking purposes
that will not count for my score in my selected category. That, in
fact, is easier for me to do than to break out the other QSOs and put
them in a separate Check Log as Mario says he did and would like to do
in the future.
So, maybe VE5SF or others with RAC can explain how their Robot can
handle these two separate logs. Given their rule, you can understand
that it really must be done that way for the RAC Canada Contest or your
log will be reclassified to a category other that what you specified in
the contest header.
Here is the relevant portion of the rules from the RAC Canada Day
website and it appears that they were printed the same way in the
magazine, The Canadian Amateur:
"Category notes:
1. The contents of a log that is submitted for a specific category must
reflect that category. In the event of a conflict between the actual
content of the log and the stated category in the Cabrillo header or
contained in other elements of the entry material, the actual contents
of the log will be used to determine the category of entry where
possible. In the event this cannot be determined or in the event where
a log does not identify the entry category, the entry will be classified
into the Multi-Operator, Multi-Transmitter, any authorized power category.
Any entrant who wants to enter a specific category (i.e. Single band
entry) but who also worked additional contacts outside that category may
submit those additional contacts in a separate check log file. Do not
include them in the main entered category log file."
Let me emphasize that RAC is the only contest sponsor that I know of
which has this rule. Other sponsors seem to request all contacts in one
log and the category in the header determines which contacts are counted
for the entry and all QSOs are used for cross checking logs. Note that
RAC does not seem to encourage submission of the separate check log, but
says it MAY be submitted in a SEPARATE check log file. The emphasis is
on those two words in the original text.
As far as I have ever known, most, if not all, other contest sponsors
accept the last log submitted for an entrant, replacing any earlier
submitted log. Apparently the major contest logger Robots may have some
ability to recover earlier submissions if there is some reason to do so,
but they are not routinely checked or recovered.
I guess the major purpose of this post is just to verify that I did not
imagine reading such a rule recently.
73, John, K4BAI.
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73, Bart - VE5CPU
-------------------------
RAC Canada Day Contest Manager
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