[CQ-Contest] W2SC's ARRL DX LCR feedback

[Larry Schimelpfenig]

snip snip

> Did not each of these stations send enough information - like their state,
as
> part of the exchange?  And did not W2SC determine that the state he copied
> made sense for that callsign, unlike if, say, OH1XYZ were to send "599 OH"
?

"Yes - W2SC did that.  However, the log checking program isn't smart enough
to
do that.  I know it seems simple enough, but this is an automated process
that
is done on 2000 logs.  The program is written in such a way that a callsign
is
either a DX call or a domestic call based upon the callsign and nothing
else."

The posibility of variables that Tree discusses in his response is endless.
In my line of work with the Coast Guard, we develop software for military
record message delivery. That includes messages coming from other services.
As they try to cope with transition from legacy systems to the  mandated
"Defense Message System" they pass messages through transition hubs that add
all sorts of gobbly gook to the messages, sometimes in the headers and
frequently in the text. This makes it almost impossible to trap duplicates
and sometimes leads to misrouting.

Leadership often says: if you can read it and explain to me why it happens,
why can't you develop software to stop it. To cope with the continual
changes requires something close to artificial intelligence. The bottom line
is we can't afford to develop such systems, timewise and moneywise.

I certainly appreciate the efforts made by folks such as Tree to make our
beloved contests as meaningful as possible. I think they are highly
overpaid, but appreciate their efforts just the same;-)

73 de Larry K7SV