Let me offer a light-weight suggestion that may make the category hopping
issue disappear in future contests. Adjust the log submission rules on two
specific points:
1. Change the final log submission deadline to be essentially at the end of
the contest. Since email is not as instantaneous as it sometimes appears, a
deadline of perhaps ten minutes after the contest end would be appropriate.
This means that whatever an entry's log said in terms of QSOs, operators,
entry category, etc. at 0000Z (or 0300Z for SS) is submitted.
2. Let each entry have one log submission. The first entry email is the
only entry email. Mistakes can happen and log files can be found in error
(which should be rare), so resubmissions would be allowed but only with the
approval of the contest adjudicators. The contest adjudicators would
determine whether a proposed resubmit was for a proper reason or not.
The whiners will immediately complain that they need time after the contest
to correct and fix their logs before submitting. Really? What happened to
logging completely and accurately during the contest and submitting what was
logged? End of contest log submission puts an increased premium on operator
skill and logging accuracy, but I find that perfectly acceptable. Large
stations might complain that they need time to merge, process, or otherwise
goof with their logs from multiple computers. That sounds like a problem to
be worked out between the large stations and logging software developers.
Paper logs would still be acceptable, as long as they are preceded by an
email at the contest end stating the call, location, operators and category,
and that a paper log will be forthcoming to complete the entry.
End of contest log submission makes the final score and category the final
score and category, end of debate. Everyone is then free to post and
soapbox on www.3830scores.com, see how they did compared to the other raw
scores, and have no worries of post-contest end-run tactics.
73,
Jim, W8WTS.
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