[CQ-Contest] [N1MM] Re: New Contest Country Files - 23 October2005

Tue Oct 25 09:03:01 EDT 2005

See below

David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:cq-contest-
> bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Richard Ferch
> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:52
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] [N1MM] Re: New Contest Country Files - 23
> October2005
> 
> As often happens in these discussions, different people are responding to
> different questions in the same thread (or at least, to the same question
> posed in different environments that affect the answer), so it's no wonder
> the answers don't agree.
> 
> I can see at least three questions here:
> 
> 1. What should a station in UA9S send? To me, the rules are clear, they
> should send zone 16, but of course that is no guarantee for the rest of us
> that this is what they will actually do.

Ua9s/t/w should send 16.

> 
> 2. What should the rest of us log? Again, the answer seems clear - log
> what
> you hear. Even if you think the log checkers are going to ignore what is

in this case that is a bad idea.  This will tell your logging software that
you have worked 17 even if you haven't.  I recommend logging the 16 that
they should send and add a note that they were sending 17.

> in
> the UA9S's Cabrillo file and penalize you for the wrong zone, how do you
> and they know that the UA9S, when he sends 17, isn't operating from a
> friend's shack in Novosibirsk, which really is in zone 17? And don't
> bother
> telling me whether the Russian licensing rules would permit him to use his
> home call sign - that is not knowledge the contest rules can require us to
> have at our fingertips during the contest.
> 
> In addition, consider this: Suppose a UA9S station sends zone 17 (rightly
> or wrongly doesn't matter), 1000 stations work him, 990 of them log 17 and
> you and 9 others log 16. Who do you think is most likely to be penalized
> (regardless of what the log checkers said before the contest)? If you log
> what you hear and the log checkers do penalize you, almost everyone else
> will be treated the same way, so you won't be at a competitive
> disadvantage. If you are so sure of what the log checkers will do that you
> insist on recording the "correct" zone instead of what the other station
> sends, that's your choice, but if this high-risk contrarian strategy goes
> wrong you will have only yourself to blame.
> 
> 3. The third question applies only to multi-ops (including SOA) who are
> using the cluster. What zone do you want your software to assume when a
> UA9S station is spotted on the cluster? If there is a reasonable chance
> that stations in UA9S will be sending a rarer zone than their real zone,
> you might want your software to tell you so.

N1mm will assume zone 16 and color it for multiplier status based on that.
What other software does is up to their writers.

> 
> To maximize your chances of getting zone 17 in the log, you might consider
> the following strategy:
> 
> (a) use a cty.dat file that will make your software announce zone 17 when
> a
> UA9S is spotted on the cluster (that way, if he is indeed sending 17, you
> won't miss the mult, and if he is sending 16, it's still a good QSO).

If he is really in zone 16 as the log checkers will assume then you will
lose the zone when they rescore it to 16.  what he sends doesn't matter, its
what the log checkers assume that does.

> 
> (b) regardless of what the UA9S sends you and regardless of what cty.dat
> tells you, put 16 in your log and add a note (Ctrl-N) to record what he
> really sent (this is so that your software will assume you still have not
> worked zone 17 and will keep on flagging other zone 17 stations as new
> mults so you don't miss them either).

That is what I recommend.

> 
> (c) after the contest, go through the notes in your contest log and
> correct
> any QSOs you deliberately mis-logged, in order to fool your software, so
> your final Cabrillo file records what was actually received.

This doesn't matter.  As k3est has said they will rescore based on what they
think the zone should be regardless of what is in the log, with no
penalty.... except you will lose zone 17 if you didn't work a real one.

> 
> Am I recommending this strategy? No. When setting the logging programs up
> at our multi-op, I might use (a), but I expect the operators will follow
> rule 2 - log what they hear. Steps (b) and (c) are much too error-prone.
> The KISS rule applies.
> 
> My 1.68 cents' worth.
> 
> 73,
> Rich VE3IAY
> 
> 
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