[CQ-Contest] From the ARRL Letter

[bogus at does.not.exist.com]

MISSING LOGS INCIDENT PROMPTS APOLOGY, IMPROVEMENTS

ARRL Membership Services Department Manager Bill Kennamer, K5FUV, has 
apologized to the amateur contesting community after a number of ARRL 
10-meter Contest logs sent via e-mail--most from high scorers--were not 
listed when the contest results showed up in July's QST. Blaming the 
problems on a balky e-mail autoresponder system, Kennamer called the log 
omissions "an inexcusable error." "It is my intention that this does not 
occur again," he said in a posting this week to the CQ Contest Reflector.

Kennamer said the e-mail autoresponder worked--indicating to those who had 
e-mailed that their logs had been received. The problem was that the log 
gathering procedure did not. "The situation was rectified months ago, but no 
one notified the world. Thus we had many logs missing, most of them top 
logs," Kennamer explained.

Kennamer said a new redundant system is in place that uses both an in-house 
computer to record logs as well as another system outside of ARRL HQ. "You 
should receive a response that your log has been received, and the log 
should be saved on two computers," he said.

Kennamer said the League also has instituted a program--effective with the 
ARRL DX CW Contest--of posting logs received on the ARRLWeb site 
(http://www.arrl.org/contests/) as soon as the log database is completed. 
Kennamer said he hopes to eventually be able to provide a daily Web update 
of logs received. "Meanwhile, we will be posting changes to the received 
logs list on the CQ Contest Reflector as they occur," he said.

Prominent contester Trey Garlough, N5KO, spent a week at ARRL HQ in May 
reviewing the Contest Branch and recommended some changes in procedures.

As for the ARRL 10-meter Contest results, these are being updated on the 
ARRLWeb page. Kennamer said those whose logs still are missing should send 
another copy of the log file and summary sheet to him at k5fuv at arrl.org. A 
corrected summary of the contest results is slated to appear in the October 
issue of QST.

"Our aim is to get back to having the premier contest program in Amateur 
Radio," Kennamer concluded. "We know that's what you want and deserve, and 
we're going to make the extra effort to get it for you."


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