[CQ-Contest] Fw: On Line Logs--cheating

[W. Wright, W5XD]

> The point being made is: if you do not find your call 
> in the other guy's log, you remove the QSO from yours, 
> thus avoiding the penalty.

That's not quite the whole story. At least for LOTW,
you know that a QSO is not QSLed by LOTW, but there
can be two reasons--the other log is not in the database
or your info is bad--and the way LOTW works, you can't
tell the difference (because you don't have the other
guy's password).

However, if the other guy's log IS in the the database
and you do get a QSL (I am not talking paper--just
a confirmation), then you can compare the QSO info
in the QSL with what's in your log. That info is limited
to what the LOTW saves. It doesn't have the whole exchange.
But it does have state, zone, grid square, etc. And a
cheater could use those to confirm some parts of the
QSO.

It is my opinion that, while cheating looks far-fetched
now, that the conventions and rules for its use should be set 
based on a worst-case assumption (or best-case) that ALL 
contest participants immediately at the end of the contest 
upload their logs and that cheaters have a month to test 
their logs against a nearly perfect LOTW. If you consider 
that extreme, I think its very clear that logs should 
not be uploaded until after the submission deadline. 

Wayne, W5XD