[CQ-Contest] Contesting Time Calculation

[Doug Smith W9WI]

On Wed, 2006-01-04 at 06:07, Radiosporting Fan wrote:
> Is there a generally accepted way to calculate
> operating time during a contest?  I was thinking of
> linking it to keyboard activity, but wanted to ask
> before going off in that direction if some other way
> was already being employed.

If you're trying to write software that will automatically determine
whether the operator is taking an offtime or not, I think you're going
to find you don't have enough input to determine it reliably.

A number of contest programs will create a post-contest report that
suggests a period of more than "x" minutes without a QSO is a break.  In
some contests a break must be of minimum length (often, 30 minutes) and
a program could assume any period of at least that length is a break.  I
would suggest that if you're writing software to do statistical analysis
of a log, it would be reasonable to regard a period of 15 minutes or
more without a QSO as a break.  

As W5OV says, however, *listening* time also counts as operating time. 
There's no surefire way to know from the log whether someone was
listening during a period when no QSOs are being made.  (I suppose you
could monitor the radio's frequency, but that wouldn't catch someone who
sits on one frequency - say, to try to catch the call of someone who
isn't IDing?)
-- 
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN  EM66
http://www.w9wi.com