[CQ-Contest] Skimmer for S/O in IARU

[N7mal]

George you said:
""I am not trying to be cute - have you done a serious contest effort hand 
logging.""
Yes sir I have many, many, times from  the 60's until the advent of 
computers somewhere in the mid 80's.
You also said: ""but most of it is just convenience.""
That is probably the most important thing a computer does. For me a computer 
allows me to look at, and read, my log 5 minutes after the contest. With a 
hand log that was not always possible. Duping, especially during 
sweepstakes, is for me, one of the best reasons for computers. The SS dupe 
sheet with its squares and circles and double everything was a living 
nightmare. The SS dupe sheet was almost as much work as the contest itself, 
and trying to read it on Sunday afternoon, in my case, was a real challenge.
Which leads for me to the real reason to use a computer. Operator fatigue. 
I'm primarily a CW contester and with a computer I almost never need to 
touch the key. I program the CW functions keys to handle almost any contest 
query. I can send "Hi George" from the keyboard just about as fast as from 
the keyer.
Yes in its own unique way hand logging has a certain charm. It was truly a 
level playing field in those days. I don't have any data to support this but 
I would think, for serious contesters, the advantage is somewhere around 100 
Q's today.  With the computer corrections are easier and take no time, 
erasing and rewriting was always messy. CW fills and corrections are smooth 
and waste no time which were 'iffy' with manual ending.
Again just my -2 cents worth.
73




MAL
N7MAL
BULLHEAD CITY, AZ
http://www.n7mal.com
Everyone in the world is
entitled to be burdened
by my opinion

----- Original Message ----- 
From: George Fremin III
To: David Kopacz
Cc: cq-contest at contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 22:15
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Skimmer for S/O in IARU


On Tue, Jun 03, 2008 at 04:15:26PM -0500, David Kopacz wrote:

> I respectfully disagree.

I am not trying to be cute - have you done a serious contest effort
hand logging.


> Computerized logging may have started out "simply" automating record
> keeping, but we all know it does much much more...
>

That is true - but most of it is just convenience.