To dupe or not to dupe..

[Martin Ellis]

Tom Francis wrote:
> My question concerns dupes and is related to the little
> fish thread and I would like the collective opinion...
> To wit:
> Is it better to just work a duplicate DX Q
> or just "QSO B4" and head on?
> My opinion is just work them and go on - after all
> we're all human and can make mistakes - besides, the
> duplicate Q may be a mult and the score could be
> discounted either way....
> Any other opinions??
> 73
> Tom, NM1Q (tomf at neca.com)

Hi Tom,

As an operator from the _DX_ side of a contest, I have to agree
with you on this one.

It is incredibly frustating to call a stateside contest station,
and be told _sorry QSO before_, when that station is not 
in my log.  

What should I do:
(a)	Assume he is right, and I missed logging him first time.
	But I cannot log him this time, so I may miss a
	State/Province multiplier.

(b)	Log him anyway, at the time of the _second_ QSO.
	This is on the basis that he says we have already worked,
	so what is wrong with putting him im my log?

You may wonder how such a situation can arise- but remember that
in a heavy pile up we sometimes hear several layers deep, and 
try to pick up a partial call:
	* Station ending in G you are 59 xxx*
after hearing the response we try to give positive confirmation:
	* WX5G thanks for Texas, QRZ from ZL1ANJ*
But on some occasions more than one station with a _G_ will
respond and claim we worked him. Perhaps our confirmation was
smothered in his local QRM.	

The other scenario may be when the band is going into a deep
fade when the stateside op has my info, but I am unable to get
his full call.  He logs me as a completed QSO, by I have only
WX???  Try the ARRL 10 meter test for this one.

My request is that if a DX station calls you a second time,
that you pause to give the details of the first QSO (Time, date,freq
exchange etc..) and ask if that was a good contact.
If the DX station *says not in the log yet*, can you can give him a
new QSO and dupe one out of your log?

What does the Contest gang think about this one?  

73,

Martin ZL1ANJ
< jmellis at ihug.co.nz >