[CQ-Contest] WRTC 2006 and Writelog

[Simon MØCLW]

Hi CQ-Contest,

>      Under Rule 8, it says: "We highly recommend the use of Writelog for 
> all competitors."
> 
>      Can anyone expain why the organizers are recommending one particular 
> product brand over another?  (Especially given that most WRTC 2002 teams 
> chose not to use Writelog.)

A very good question indeed, Kenneth.

Quoting further from Rule 8: "Nevertheless TR and CT could be used 
but the Committee does not assume any responsibility on the 
conversion to cabrillo. We will ask CT and TR to develop a specific 
version for WRTC 2006 in order to mitigate or eliminate problems on 
the conversion to cabrillo."

Now, this strikes me as being overly odd. Firstly, why should any 
problems be encountered on the conversion to Cabrillo? Exporting a 
log in Cabrillo format for a contest is now de facto standard, and 
just about any contester can do this. And I have no doubt that WRTC 
competitors will have absolutely no qualms/problems in exporting to 
Cabrillo. So, what's the issue? Surely the authors of CT/TR have 
already ensured that the exportation to Cabrillo is an easy task to 
undertake?

Secondly, something else which strikes me as being odd is, why 
mention *any* specific logging programs at all? The rule should 
state that as long as the organisers can receive their logs in 
Cabrillo, any logging software can be used. For example, what about 
the fantastic Win-Test logging software? No mention of that as an 
alternative, even though it has one-click-Cabrillo [tm] and supports 
the IARU HF Championship natively. And what about NA? I don't know 
much about NA, and indeed whether it supports IARU, but if it does 
(and I expect it does), it should also be mentioned. The fact is, 
there are quite a number of logging applications and most, if not 
all, of them export to Cabrillo - thus the organisers should not 
list even one application in the rules.

Or, am I missing something? As each team will have a referee, must 
the referee be able to understand the logging program fully, in 
order to be able to oversee everything effectively? In that case, I 
can see why WriteLog, CT and TR are mentioned explicitly as these 
will be the applications that the referees will be instructed to 
'learn'. And if this is the case, apologies to the organisers. But 
again, if this is the case, the rules should state that as being the 
reason why an application other than WL/CT/TR cannot be used.

Some clarification, please?

73,

-- 
Simon Pearson, M0CLW
* CDXC * WWYC * UKYC