[CQ-Contest] Entries in minor contests

[Doug Smith W9WI]

I just received Ward's "Contest Rate Sheet" in my email.  His "Read The
... Rules!" hit the spot: I've just finished checking the logs for the
Tennessee QSO Party.

A few notes...

- In my opinion, Cabrillo is a godsend.  A standard format, providing
all the information most QSO Parties could want, easily imported to
spreadsheets.  At least 80% of TNQP logs arrived in Cabrillo format, and
they made my job MUCH easier.  

If the contest you're entering says they'll accept Cabrillo files, send
it that way.  They'll appreciate it.

- That said, different programs interpret Cabrillo differently.  I've
seen some, uh, "interesting" files...  (I suppose some of that is to be
expected as the TNQP is not officially supported by Cabrillo)  

- ADIF is a pain in the *ss.  The standard allows carriage returns at
any point in a QSO record - but doesn't require that a carriage return
exist at all.  (your entire log could be on a single line...)  In
practice most ADIF files I've seen have a QSO spread across two or three
lines.  A real pain.  Generally I do a global search and replace to get
rid of all the newlines, then go back through and replace each
end-of-record marker with a newline...

- As Ward says, READ THE RULES!  Every year I receive at least one
Microsoft Word file.  Excel spreadsheets happen too.  

More of a problem is failure to include necessary information.  Our
rules read:"Please do include your callsign, mailing address, team (if
any) and (if you're in Tennessee) county." - but every year I receive
logs with no mailing address or county.  

- Luckily, we no longer receive software-specific files.  (.BIN, .QSO,
etc.)  This was a problem in the first few years of the TNQP.  Each
contester has their favorite contest program; don't assume the contest
sponsor shares your tastes<grin>!

- At the TNQP, any scoring information in your log is ignored.  We use
the date, time, band, mode, call worked, and QTH received; plus the
mailing address, callsign, category, and club name from the header. 
Your QSO data is imported into a spreadsheet and rescored (/dupe
checked, /checked for busted calls & exchanges) there.  It works pretty
well with our complicated scoring scheme.  Even with simpler QSO
Parties, it's rare for software to be able to properly keep track of
bonus points and double multipliers.  We've found it easier to rescore
from scratch than to try to troubleshoot scoring done by someone else.

- "...be sure the subject line of the email message includes the contest
name and your call."  YES, PLEASE!  

- Of course, we're probably "preaching to the choir" here.  State QSO
Parties probably draw more casual participants than any other type of
contest - precisely the kind of people who aren't reading this
forum:)...
-- 
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN  EM66
http://www.w9wi.com