[CQ-Contest] ARRL says no to opening logs...

[John Laney]

I think that the concern here is that someone who didn't even get on the 
air and call can review a log and find a call that is very similar to 
his own (K4BI, or K4BAM, or K4BIA, or K5BAI, for example, instead of 
K4BAI) and get all the QSO information to send a request for a QSL for a 
QSO that was never made and a sypathetic QSL manager or operator may 
assume that it was a copying error and send a QSL for a contact that was 
never made.

That rule, if applied retroactively, would mean, I think, that none of 
the WRTC QSOs made from the competitors in Brazil last month would be 
credited for ARRL awards. Also, and I won't name names here, there are a 
number of hams who have wesbites and post their logs to them.  I assume 
they would want to  stop that practice now.  I have already seen misuse 
of one of those websites by a SWL card sender in Europe who sent out 
requests for QSL cards for contacts that he could not have heard from 
Europe.  As a result, I will not reply to any SWL request from that DE0 
alleged SWL.  I have also found a HA SWL who is sending requests for QSL 
cards based on DX cluster or internet spots for QSOs that he did not and 
could not have heard.  (These guys don't even have enough sense to limit 
their requests to times and bands where propagation to their locations 
might have been possible.)

Please understand that I had no part in suggesting or discussing this 
rule change.  I just think I understand the possible abuses that it is 
designed to try to prevent.

73,


John, K4BAI.