Single ops seem to have no problem with sending logs in right away, but some of
our multi-op efforts resulted in logs that were totally screwed up. At one
point we had a lot of RF getting into the computers and we had to manually
search the logs for calls like XQY7JO63C. These were not calls we typed in,
these were gibberish calls that showed up in the log off screen during the
contest, so we didn't know they were there until a post-contest examination.
With the 3 plus 1 penalty in CQ WW we could have easily lost a large percentage
of our actual score. Sometimes the RF was there and sometimes it wasn't.
Fortunately, the problem seems to have departed, but I still check. And it
takes time to go through thousands of Qs.
Another time we had a computer go screwy and start doubling contacts, that is,
we would enter KH7R on 20, for example, and then out of nowhere KH7R would also
show up as a QSO on 80. That one took a while to fix. Then there was the time
the commercial power took a hit and we came back up OK except after the contest
the times were 7 hours off. Another time we came up after a power hit with the
wrong date. Both those took a lot of post-contest time to fix. (Yes I did buy
a UPS and it got some use in WPX CW!) One time I had to ask for a log filing
extension just to get things ironed out.
Did you ever log part of the contest on paper and the rest on computer? Try
sending that one in right after contest.
There are a lot of times I go to sleep shortly after the contest and 12 hours
later I'm headed to the airport only to be out of town for a week or two. I
guess if I didn't have any other life, I just stayed home, computers never
crashed, the power company got their act together and I ran only single-op QRP
I would probably want to reduce the log deadline to right after the contest.
Until that time I vote NO.
Dan KL7Y
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