[CQ-Contest] Growing New Contesters with LOTW - suddenly it's 1977again

[Bill Parry]

Pete,

You are exactly right. It is easy to see that the DXCC desk is hopelessly
overwhelmed and it is going to stay that way. We all thought that LOTW was
going to save us from these ridiculous waits for card checking. The folks
that work up there are human. They are also good guys, just call and talk to
them and you know that they are working hard. But when you have a small
number of folks doing this much work (that requires a great deal of
expertise), you know that you are going to have problems. Sometimes people
have family emergencies, sometimes they are sick, sometimes they deserve a
few days off. You can't just hire a substitute teacher or a temp. When this
happens, the pile grows larger and there is no way to get additional help.
The DXCC system is broken!

The Board authorized an additional person for this problem but since that
time there has been no improvement. You can see card submissions that are 2
1/2 months old in the que. LOTW submittals can sometimes take over a week,
for an "automated update!" 

I believe that the entire system needs a well-considered and thoughtful
overhaul. Our system is too dependent on manually handling cards. LOTW is a
big part of the answer. Although the LOTW process seems fine to me (I love
it!), many find it to be VERY cumbersome and difficult. These folks are
never going to join us on LOTW. Many non-US hams are very anti-LOTW for a
number of reasons. If the ARRL would do a survey and find out what it would
take to get them on board, this would reduce the number of cards being
"handled". We need to make LOTW more attractive to everyone. I thought that
WAZ was going to be added to this service. Europeans and Jas love the county
award, what about that. If it takes a "rework" of the security system, let's
figure out a way. 

Contesters should be at the forefront of pushing for a dramatic improvement
in the LOTW/DXCC system - system wide! We make and send more QSOs and QSLs
than any other group. Dramatic, to me, does not mean cutting the turn around
time for cards from 2.5 months to 1.75 months.

I am convinced the DXCC Challenge program is at the root of this problem, at
least presently. (I know that I am sending cards that I would have never
sent in prior to "Challenge".) Now that the genie is out of the bottle, can
you imagine when the sunspot cycle gets a little higher and 10, 12, and 15
get cracking? I the wait times will rise significantly and the ARRL is going
to take real PR hit over this.

The ARRL Board of Directors is well aware of this problem. I have talked to
my director about this and I know he is trying to address the issue. If you
think it is a problem, maybe you should contact your director. We need a
fresh look and how LOTW and DXCC can be organized to provide better service
to the membership. If you agree than something needs to be done, you might
start by letting your director know:

http://www.arrl.org/divisions/

Adios,

Bill W5VX

-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Pete Smith
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7:05 AM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Growing New Contesters with LOTW - suddenly it's
1977again

It's time for ARRL to take the next big step to increase the value of 
LOTW.  Done properly, it could increase ARRL's revenue from LOTW 
substantially, while encouraging a lot of new hams and DXers to become 
contesters.

The idea is simple, and in fact ARRL used to do this, back in the days of 
manual log-checking -- I'm talking about giving DXCC and WAS credit for 
contest contacts.  The difference is that now, with CQWW making all logs 
available on the internet,  LOTW could function as a single source for ARRL 
award credit for *both* CQWW and ARRL contests.  As more CQ and other 
contests came on board, the idea could be expanded world-wide.

It would be relatively simple to implement - QSOs from the participating 
contests (those verified by cross-check of submitted logs) would be fed 
into LOTW and made available for award credit.  Organizationally, a sharing 
arrangement could be worked out, so that contest organizers could recover 
the cost of preparing their data for submission to LOTW, plus a reasonable 
profit.  ARRL, meanwhile, would benefit from the increased revenue through 
use of LOTW for award credit.

It's not really even necessary to stop here.  LOTW could service other 
award sponsors, too - so that you could get credit toward your WPX or DOK 
award for those contest QSOs, as well.

Probably more important (at least to me), contesting would benefit from an 
infusion of new blood.  More DXers and new hams would be motivated to 
operate in contests if they knew that verified contest QSOs would 
automatically count toward the next award.  Many of us got our start in 
contesting for exactly this reason - why not do it all over again?

73, Pete N4ZR

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