[CQ-Contest] Re: [TowerTalk] 10 Meter contest write-up - IT STINKS!

Tue Jun 16 11:05:56 EDT 1998

More to the story.  After some PVRC members noticed their scores weren't in
the writeup of the '97 10M contest, we carried on a dialogue with ARRL and
were informed that PVRC had, in fact, won the 10M contest in '97 and were
sent the gavel.  The missing logs put PVRC into #1 by a comfortable margin
in '97.  Not wanting to embarrass ARRL or the Contest Branch, we didn't
insist on a big mention in QST and, in fact, didn't get any at all.  I read
the '98 results to see if there would be any mention of the '97 correction
and there wasn't.  As far as I know, no one beyond PVRC knows that PVRC won
the '97 10M contest until this moment, now that I'm mentioning it to the
reflectors.  73 - Rich, KE3Q (PVRC Pres. last 3 years, currently secretary)

Nevertheless, FCG can take a lot of pride in what they've done in a short
time with their club, and with a small, but very effective group.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim White, K4OJ <k4oj at ij.net>
To: Frank W4RH <w4rh at arrl.org>
Cc: towertalk <towertalk at contesting.com>; cq-contest
<cq-contest at contesting.com>; Florida Contest Group E-Mail Reflector
<fcg at qth.net>
Date: Monday, June 15, 1998 9:46 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] 10 Meter contest write-up - IT STINKS!

>
>To: Frank Butler, W4RH ARRL S/E Division Director
> Evelyn Gauzens, W4WYR ARRL S/E Division Vice Director
>
>cc: ARRL Contest Dept/Billy Lunt, CQ-Contest E-mail Reflector
>
>Last year when I got the results for the previous year's (1996) ARRL 10
>meter contest I was dismayed to see my top ten log was not listed in the
>results, the Florida Contest Group had barely edged by to win the ARRL
>Affiliated Club Competition.  Had my score been there our club's score our
>score would have been about ten percent higher - we did not slip one in -
>WE HAD ONE.  We luckily slid into victory by three tenths of a
>percent....had we lost due to my log's not being there I would have been
>really fuming.
>
>At that time I composed a letter to Dave Sumner, K1ZZ stating the above
>facts.
>
>This was Dave's response:
>
>"Dear Jim:
>
>I'm sorry to learn, from your letter of August 8, about your Ten-Meter
>Contest entry problem.  I have forwarded it to Chuck Hutchinson with the
>request that he look into the matter.
>
>Congratulations on your club's excellent effort.
>
>73,
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Dave Sumner, K1ZZ
>Executive Vice President"
>
>
>
>
>I NEVER HEARD FROM CHUCK HUTCHINSON.
>
>
>
>
>The low power winner of that contest effort was another Florida Contest
>Group member, N4RN - but he wasn't shown as the operator - and in the
>breakdown boxes his score is shown as second due to a High Power score by
>another entrant being put in the lead spot at the top of the box. The ARRL
>attempted to fix this for N4RN by giving him a certificate, it stated he
>had won the category for the 1997 contest....a contest which had not even
>run yet!!!!!!
>
>Seeing as nothing came of this from Chuck Hutchinson, I wrote it off to
>some bad luck, our club had won and that was of primary importance.
>
>Several years ago my CW score was listed in the phone results...those who
>know me got a real chuckle out of that! But then, last year my '97 Phone
>Sweepstakes multi-op score was listed in the ARRL DX Competition
>results...and I started suspecting there was nobody really looking at the
>logs being sent in to the ARRL...I refused to become paranoid and think I
>was being singled out.  The logs seemed to be given to data entry clerks
>whose work was unsupervised.  If a Sweepstakes log can be entered into a DX
>Competition data base, and it doesn't jump out and bite somebody -
>well....seeing as the layout of the score is totally different......hell,
>nobody is proofing the work.  Taking the time to say here is the score
>results...lets see...
>
>After this big foul up needless to say I made several long distance calls
>after submitting my logs to the ARRL this past year...."are you sure that
>you have the log, okay?"  THIS APPARENTLY DOESN'T MATTER FROM WHAT I AM
>SEEING ON THE REFLECTORS HOWEVER, SEVERAL HAMS HAVE HAD THEIR ENTRIES QSL'd
>- BUT THEY AIN'T ION THE RESULTS!
>
>I have been out of town for several days and when I got in last night the
>messages started showing up IN MY e-mail in box from the cq-contest e-mail
>reflector - several prominent hams' scores were missing from this past
>years 10 meter contest write-up...I had a bad gut feeling in my stomach,
>little did I know how bad.
>
>While the Florida Contest Club managed to beat us this last December in the
>1997 running of the Ten Meter Contest (congratulations - thanks for kicking
>us in the butt!) I had taken solace as club President in knowing that heah
>we had fewer entries and of those we had won five different categories of
>entry. So the big boxes would be littered with our calls, our efforts would
>be recognized.
>
>When my phone rang this afternoon and it was our club VP who had gotten QST
>in his mailbox today, my spirits sank.
>
>Two of our winning efforts were not shown....both of which had been QSL'd
>by the League as received logs!  Missing were the winning low power cw
>score of Ron, WD4AHZ and the winning low power mixed mode score of Dan,
>K1TO.
>
>I got home this evening and I see that more and more messages are showing
>up on CQ-Contest e-mail reflector - all of them along the same vein -
>including an e-mail from an Argentine station wanting to find out how his
>groups multi-operator effort had faired.....that call is nowhere to be
>found in the write-up, I am glad I do NOT have to be the one writing him.
>
>My copy of QST arrived today and I verified the scores from WD4AHZ and K1TO
>were not there...and then I started to simmer.
>
>Then I noticed the crazy regional score listing box with the same coding
>(Alpha) used for both the type of mode entry and the power used.....it took
>me a minute to find my own winning score in the regional boxes!
>
>And where is the soapbox......has this been eliminated from ARRL contest
>write-ups?  Don't tell me - nobody really reads those things anyway, right?
>
>
>If people who think this wanna know I will dig out my invoice file for
>antenna and related ham gear purchases for the past couple of years....I
>ONLY operate contests, and I KNOW there are SIZABLE purchases from
>advertisers in QST and NCJ!  I do this to ensure I will see my score near
>the top of a box, I couple my energy in front of the rig and my financial
>efforts to one and only one form of hobby, amateur radio contesting.
>
>This puny write-up makes no mention of the quality of the competition
>whatsoever: was it tight - did the second place guy get creamed by the
>first place guy?  I wonder if I even might not have won the high power CW
>category - odds appear good another score may have been left out of the
>listings!
>
>What I am reading this evening is a cursory write-up - why?  Is my interest
>silly, as well as that of thousands of hams around the world who contest?
>
>The Florida Contest Group contains a LOT of life members in the ARRL, and I
>can tell you there are a LOT of ANGRY ARRL members this evening. Most
>active contesters are strong ARRL supporters, this kind of rubbish called a
>write-up says to me you plain don't give a damn about contesting.
>
>You have forgotten who will be the ones manning the traffic stations come
>the next emergency - hint, it ain't the tech plus shack on a belt guys who
>do not know how to solder a PL259 onto a piece of RG213!
>
>WHY has contesting evolved and why has contesting been supported by the
>ARRL? Is the Sweepstakes exchange not a form of test by fire at copying
>message preambles?  And what about international goodwill - is that
>enhanced by the Leagues leaving out entries from a foreign country?
>
>On behalf of the members of the Florida Contest Group, I feel the ARRL owes
>one hell of a lot more than an apology to WD4AHZ and K1TO, no footnote
>score correction down the road will cut it this time...and it is not just
>to them but to ALL the other contesters who have been worked hard at this
>passion we call contesting - only to have their logs lost en mass.
>
>Twice our club has won the 10 Meter Contest's Affiliated Club Competition,
>NEVER have we received a gavel or a certificate....the ARRL just doesn't
>care about contesting anymore is what some of my fellow club members say.
>I doubt many of the League's QST and NCJ advertisers who cater to the
>contest community appreciate this sort of thing - especially when they make
>money by us contesters buying their products so we can be more competitive.
>
>This letter is addressed to our ARRL Director and Vice Director, I hope
>they fully realize the importance of what has just happened here and will
>effect some sort of changes which ENHANCE contesting, not trivialize it.
>
>73,
>
>Jim White, K4OJ
>ex: K1ZX
>
>President: Florida Contest Group - visit our website at:
>
>http://www.4w.com/deemer/fcg.htm
>
>
>The Florida Contest Group sponsors the Florida QSO Party, check out the FQP
>website@:
>
>http://home1.gte.net/wd4ahz/fcg/ssqp.htm
>
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