[CQ-Contest] CW Sweepstakes Correction Press Release

Henderson, Dan N1ND dhenderson at arrl.org
Fri May 14 09:50:45 EDT 1999


Last November's Sweepstakes entries were given the most careful scrutiny in
many years, thanks in large part to the efforts of off-site volunteers.
Every electronic log was  subject to some downward adjustment in score from
computerized cross-checking.

However, a problem has been detected from the transferring of the
checked-log database back into the main contest database.  Entrants in the
CW Sweepstakes who have a zero in their call sign will find when they look
at the results (already available on the Members-only Web site and about to
be received in June QST) that their scores, unlike others, were not
adjusted. In a contest as competitive as the CW SS -- perhaps the closest
"horse race" we sponsor -- this has the effect of overstating their position
relative to other entrants.

The problem arose because of a mismatch in the characters used for "zero" in
two data bases: the one generated by our off-site volunteers and the one
maintained here in  Newington. It should have been detected and corrected
here, but it wasn't -- at least, not in time for the CW results. It was
detected when the importing of data for the Phone Sweepstakes database took
place. Again, this only seems to have affected those with an FCC issued
callsign containing the number zero.

The corrected CW  Sweepstakes Top 10 box and changes in any of the section
winners will be printed in the July QST along with the full phone results. A
complete list of corrected line scores will be put up on the Contest Branch
Web Page. In addition, all awards, plaques and certificates for section
winners will also be verified before those are prepared.

We regret this data management error.  We would also like to note that the
error was in no way related to the hard work done by the volunteer
log-checkers or the principle author of the Sweepstakes write-up.   If you
have additional questions, please contact the Contest Branch at ARRL:
contest at arrl.org or (860) 594-0232.

Dan Henderson, N1ND
Contest Branch Manager, ARRL

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