[CQ-Contest] Checking your entry

[David A. Pruett]

One item which has been missed in the discussion of post-contest checking
of your log concerns making sure all of the default information in your
entry is correct.  Actually, this is a pre-contest task.

What do I mean by this?  Well, K9TM and I are writing the software to check
the ARRL 10M logs for the ARRL.  The ARRL format file spec (the
callsign.LOG file) requires that the "sent information" be included in each
QSO data line.  Well, the log for a certain well-known Carribean contest
station indicates that he sent "59 CA" for every exchange, whereas in
compliance with the contest rules we strongly suspect that he sent "59" and
a serial number.  While this is a simple setup error on his part, its his
responsibility to see that the entry was correct.  What K9TM and I plan to
do in this case is imply the serial number (i.e., the first QSO is #1, the
second is #2, etc.).  The danger here is that if a single QSO is hosed in
the file, then the subsequent serial numbers are out of whack and there are
gonna be a whole lot of lost QSOs.  Dunno how else to treat this.

The contesting community might be deeply embarrassed if they knew the sorry
state of the logs being submitted.  Out of almost 1400 computer logs
submitted for the ARRL 10M contest, only about 300 are in a usable ARRL
format as submitted.  We have been able to identify about 400 more logs, a
mix of the various ASCII output log files generated by the popular
programs, and write some conversion programs to translate the data. 
However, this means that roughly 50% of the E-logs are in a format that we
can't identify.  You can't imagine the amount of work going into this task
(OK, so N6TR and N5KO probably do...).

When the ARRL 10M writeup comes out, there will be a sidebar explaining
exactly what you need to submit to the ARRL for as many of the popular
packages and we can figure out.  Hopefully, this will clear up some of the
confusion.  However, its the responsibility of the entrant to make sure his
or her file is in the correct format!  All of the current "big three"
(CT/NA/TR) generate good data, but some older versions generate incomplete
files.  It pays to have the latest version of your favorite package.  At
some point, I suspect the ARRL (and maybe CQ too) are going to have to draw
the line.

73,

Dave/K8CC


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