[CQ-Contest] Unassisted vs. Assisted vs. Self-Assisted

[John W]

Hi all,

I recently received the report of the errors in my CW Sweepstakes log. While 
I made only a handful of copying errors, there were a large number of people 
who "copied" my check as "66", when in fact I was sending "77". I was using 
a club call sign which had been used in a previous year, at which time the 
check "66" had been used.

This causes me to suspect that those people who "copied" 66 instead of 77 
were using their software (or a previous log) instead of their ears to 
obtain my exchange.

A few years back, I operated Sweepstakes as a guest op somewhere else, and 
used my host station's call, but I sent my own check instead of his. The 
same thing happened - dozens of people "copied" 63 for my check, when I had 
actually sent 77.

I know it reduces THEIR score and not my own, so maybe I shouldn't be miffed 
about this. HOWEVER, I have the following complaints:

1) As far as I'm concerned, these contacts were not valid, because the 
person didn't copy what I sent.
2) This practice seems to defeat the intent of the contest, which is an 
exchange of INFORMATION, not merely an exchange of a callsign and serial 
number (or, worse yet, just an exchange of callsigns like CQWW).

Since I know we'll never put a stop to people using software in this way, I 
would like to propose we do one of the following:

a) Ops who use any software or other tool (not including their own brain) 
that supplies them with any data that they do not copy off the air shall be 
required to enter in an ASSISTED category (since, alas, they are truly being 
assisted, right?!)

-or-

b) Create a new "Self-Assisted" category between Unassisted and Assisted, 
thus resulting in the following three categories:

   Unassisted - meaning all exchanges and callsigns were copied entirely off 
the air with no assistance, databases, written lists, etc., and no packet or 
internet spotting was used to locate any stations or for any other reason

   Self-Assisted - meaning no packet or internet spotting was used to locate 
any stations or for any other reason, but software or other aids may be used 
to provide a list of valid callsigns (super-check partial, etc.), previously 
known exchanges, etc.

   Assisted - No limitations on use of spotting, callsign or exchange 
databases, etc.

Let the debate begin....



John
WA2GO
Certified old school contester