[3830] ARRL Contest Information

[Henderson, Dan N1ND]

Dear Contest participant:

A couple of key points to remind you about as the busy contest season come
on us...

Please use standard abbreviations when sending or logging sections.  The
official list of section abbreviations can be found at:
http://www.arrl.org/contests/sections.abv.html

Why standard abbreviations?  To keep it simple.  Recently someone called and
was upset they list a QSO and Multiplier for logging a station they worked
in the San Diego Section.  They logged the contact as SAN instead of the
standard ARRL abbreviation SDG.  His argument was "The log checkers should
know that SAN is the start of the section name San Diego and they should
accept it."  In fact, five ARRL sections - San Joaquin Valley, Santa Clara
Valley, San Francisco, San Diego and Santa Barbara - all begin with the
three letters SAN.  SD is not an option as that is the official abbreviation
for South Dakota.

There are a few sections that you need to watch: OR for Oregon and ORG for
Orange (CA), NY or NWT for Northwest Territories, NTX for North Texas. The
Yukon Territory is abbreviated YT or while Nunavut is NU.  Both Yukon and NU
count for the Northwest Territories as a Section Multiplier.

We try to use the standard US Postal Service abbreviations for a state with
only one section.  But eight states - Washington, California, Texas,
Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts - have
multiple sections.  Just logging NJ for Northern New Jersey will be busted
when an ARRL section is required in the exchange, for example.

Using the standard abbreviations in the Cabrillo format log file sunder
SECTION: in the header allows the robot to properly read and note your entry
into the correct ARRL Section, since awards for our contests are based on
the section from which you participate.  Using the correct abbreviation
helps us get your entry properly reported.

In some ARRL Contest, such as the International DX contest and 10-Meter
Contest, you do not exchange ARRL sections, but rather US states.  For those
contests, your line by line log file should show the information that you
exchange during the contest. That is the information used to crosscheck
logs.  However, the header area marked SECTION: will still show the ARRL
section.  One additional point: your ARRL section is not the same as your
ARRL Division (New England, Roanoke, Southwestern, etc).  Please make sure
you are using the correct information.

Another point that has come up is "Cabrillo doesn't have a place for me to
mark dupes or show QSO points or mark new multipliers."  Those are things
from the pre-Cabrillo format days that are not needed now to process
Cabrillo logs.  The log checking software verifies the contacts in your
logs, cross checks those which it can in other logs, handles dupes, then
calculates a final score based on what it finds in the log file itself,
after calculating Valid QSOs and Multipliers.  It does not rely on a claimed
score, claimed QSO count or claimed multiplier total from your logging
program.

All commercial electronic logging programs mark duplicate QSOs in your log
and counts them for 0 points, so there is no need to mark or remove dupes in
your Cabrillo file.  The log checking software works on the basis that dupes
have been counted as 0 points in your log and you are not penalized for
them.  You do not need to add anything to the QSO line in your log file.
There is no need to add a column to show QSO points for each QSO, mark
mults, or mark a 0 point QSO.

I believe that all of the commercial programs still generate their old-style
files - summary sheets, rate sheets, dupe sheets, etc, in addition to the
Cabrillo format file.  You can use those files for your personal analysis of
your contest, etc.  There is no need to submit anything but the Cabrillo
format log file - which if complete includes both the summary header section
and the log file section - to the ARRL.  Please do not send such things as
NA.QDF, CT.Bin files, Excel Spreadsheets, Word Documents, e-dupe sheets,
etc.  We do not need them to process your entry, and sending them may cause
the file we do need to be misplaced or overwritten.  Please do not send the
Cabrillo file as the text of the e-mail message:  send it as an attachment
to the e-mail.

There is no need to mark on and off times in your log.  The log checking
process will calculate blocks of inactive time and will calculate off times
from them.  This supercedes any previous rule about marking them in the
Cabrillo Soapbox area in the header.

Please verify that the information in the Cabrillo format file header is
complete and correct.  Do not assume that the logging software "got it
right."  At least one of the major logging programs allows you to select
categories that do not exist as possible entry classifications.  For
example, there is no Single Op Assisted category in the ARRL 10-Meter
Contest: the correct category is Multi-Single, as per the rules.  There is
no Single Op All Band Unlimited category in the ARRL DX Contest: it is
Single Operator Assisted. Again, please help us help you by verifying that
the information you include in the Header area of your Cabrillo log file is
complete and accurate before you submit it.

If after submitting your file, and before the submission deadline, you
discover an error in your log, correct it and resubmit the file.  The robot
will use the log file from you with the latest date and time.  If there is a
problem with the Cabrillo log file that we receive from you, we will contact
you when the log is processed through the robot by the log checkers.  We
will look for files in improper formats, files that appear to be incomplete
or truncated, or that were corrupted during electronic submission.

One last item: please name your file properly before sending it to the ARRL.
If you have named it something other than your callsign, you need to rename
the Cabrillo log file to <YOURCALL.TXT> before you e-mail it to us (N1ND.txt
for example).  While we realize that it makes it easier for you to keep up
with the files from each contest you enter by naming them something like
SSCW2000, imagine the situation we would have if we received dozens or
hundreds of logs all named SSCW2000!  Properly naming the file helps us
track it and lessens the possibility that it becomes lost.

When you email a log to the contest address (such as SSCW at arrl.org) it is
saved directly to the ARRL server in Newington.  From there copies are
automatically sent to two additional servers - the robot and a dedicated
back-up where the copy of the original e-mail is stored and that we can
remotely access to verify information from the original message.  When it is
received at the robot, a "log received" message that includes a receipt
number will be sent back to you to confirm its receipt.  You should keep
that receipt until the list of Logs Received is posted on the website after
the robot has processed the e-logs and the manual data-entry for handwritten
paper logs is complete.  When you receive the receipt, your message is
stored in 3 separate places.  If you do not receive the automated receipt,
please verify that you have sent the entry to the correct address then
resend.  If you do not receive the receipt within a reasonable time, send an
e-mail to n1nd at arrl.org and we will see if there is a problem with the
servers.

If you have any questions about log submissions please contact me directly
at n1nd at arrl.org  The Contest specific e-mail addresses should only be used
to submit contest entries.  Thanks and good luck in upcoming ARRL contests.

73


Dan Henderson, N1ND
ARRL Contest Branch Manager


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