I was asked offline about paper logs and the overall scoring process, and I
thought the answer might be of general interest...
So the ARRL actually does still accept paper logs, they must be on the ARRL
forms and have to be postmarked by Friday. I don't know if they still get
them, and I don't know how they deal with them. I suspect the form
requirement keeps the numbers down. According to the schedule they give us,
two weeks after the deadline all of the logs are in and have had a basic
review (not scoring) by the ARRL Contest Branch.
Then they are handed off to a human log checker. Each contest has someone
who does this. They all more or less use a common set of tools to mung all
the logs and score them. I'm not conversant in the details, but I do know
it isn't just throw it in the computer and out spits the answer. All of
these typing monkeys that we are do weird things - incorrect formatting, or
you name it - and corrections and tweaks must be made by the human. Along
the way they may find "unstable logs" that are generating a high number of
lost QSOs for other logs. The human needs to intervene and make a judgment
about that. And when it looks done the human needs to wade in and double
check it.
The checker works at it for about a month and gives the tabulated scores
back to the ARRL CB. They generate results tables - another week according
to the schedule - and throw it over the wall to me. That's at the end of
February. Then, it is up to me to come up with a preliminary results
article that can be web published. I'm hoping to crank that out pretty
fast. Give me a week. ;) I then have more time to do the multipage writeup
you are probably/hopefully familiar with, as well as the print published
version, deadline end of May.
The ARRL CB knows that everyone wants sooner results, and that it's not
only nicer but better for the growth of contesting. They've disconnected
results reporting from the print publishing schedule to facilitate this.
Everyone in this process has the goal to beat their part of the schedule.
Hope this helps - 73 jeff wk6i
On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 5:20 PM, Jeff Stai <wk6i.jeff@gmail.com> wrote:
> The contest crew has a new goal to web publish preliminary results -
> meaning they're good unless someone spots a misteak - within a very few
> weeks of the contest. I'm not going to commit to a date because I'm only
> the last link in the chain and this is a new thing. Stay tuned. jeff wk6i
>
> On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 10:07 AM, Bob Darlington <rdarlington@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> And this amuses me somewhat. Must be in within 5 days of the contest,
>> takes 10 months to score, and a year later I'm still getting people
>> uploading their logs to LOTW to confirm.
>>
>> -Bob
>> N3XKB
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 11:01 AM, Jeff Stai <wk6i.jeff@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > "All entries are must be postmarked or e-mailed by 2359 UTC January 12,
>> > 2018. Logs may be uploaded online or mailed."
>> >
>> > This is just FIVE days after the end of contest!
>> >
>> > Note that the website still shows the wrong date in one place.
>> >
>> > Have fun! jeff wk6i
>> >
>> > --
>> > Jeff Stai ~ wk6i.jeff@gmail.com
>> > Twisted Oak Winery ~ http://www.twistedoak.com/
>> > Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/twistedoak
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>
>
>
> --
> Jeff Stai ~ wk6i.jeff@gmail.com
> Twisted Oak Winery ~ http://www.twistedoak.com/
> Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/twistedoak
>
--
Jeff Stai ~ wk6i.jeff@gmail.com
Twisted Oak Winery ~ http://www.twistedoak.com/
Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/twistedoak
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