[CQ-Contest] IARU Contest Scoring

[Steve London]

I hesitate to go public with this information, but after 8 years of inaction, 
it's past overdue ....

There has been a problem with the ARRL scoring of the IARU HF contest logs for 
USA participants since (at least) 1997.  I have personal knowledge it was still 
a problem in 2002, and no confirmation that it has been corrected since the 2002 
results. The software uses the call area in the participants callsign to 
calculate what zone the participant is operating from, even if all other 
information in the Cabrillo file would indicate that the participant is 
operating from a different zone.  For example, N2IC, who has been operating from 
Zone 7 for the past 24 years, has being scored as a Zone 8 participant by virtue 
of the "2" in the callsign, even though he gets listed in the results as a Zone 
7 participant.  As a software developer, it's hard for me to understand why this 
has been so difficult for the ARRL (and its outsourced IARU log-checker) to fix. 
And yes, there has been plenty of communication over the years with N1ND, N7NG, 
and his predecessor K5FUV.

What difference does this make, you ask ?

Just as a refresher, the IARU rules award you 1 point for stations worked in the 
same zone, 3 points for stations worked in a different zone, but same continent, 
and 5 points for stations worked in a different continent.

Due to demographics, there are many more active stations in Zone 8 than Zone 7. 
  So, if N2IC, operating from Zone 7, makes 250 Zone 8 QSO's and 150 Zone 7 
QSO's, he would get 700 points if scored (incorrectly) as a Zone 8 participant, 
or 900 points if scored (correctly) as a Zone 7 participant - a siginficant 
difference.  A difference that has cost me several slots in the top-10 each year.

So ... this is a warning to Zone 6 and Zone 7 participants - use a callsign that 
is "home" to your zone.  And here's a little hint to you east coast guys - for a 
leg up on your Zone 8 competition, use a callsign other than call areas 1-4.

See you this weekend ... with a K5 call !

Steve, N2IC/5