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

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

OK... imagine this:

During a major non-ARRL contest (which one?  Not important), someone pops up
using a call that appears to be from rare DXCC entity Lower ToemahtoeZoup.
The station operates a significant period of time and works a lot of people.

A log is submitted to the contest sponsor, along with a signed statement
promising "Yes, I was really there, and yes, I followed all the contest
rules."  But no other documentation... not that the contest sponsor ever
asked for this, mind you.

Months go by, and no documentation on the Lower ToemahtoeZoup operation is
ever submitted to the ARRL DXCC desk.  And attempts to contact the alleged
operator(s) and/or QSL manager are fruitless, as those induhviduals never
respond, yea or nay, to requests for documentation.  Rumors float around
that they had verbal permission from the ruler, His Royal Mucketey-muckness
Ohyoueightwontoo, or at least someone in his family... and "proof" of this
is that the operators left the country with their logs, equipment, and
dignity intact, that they weren't thrown in jail, whipped, stoned, hanged
until they joined the Knights Who Say 'Nee!', or at least hadn't permanently
lost any appendages of varying importance that they had been, ah, closely
attached to.

So the cards, when they are finally sent out, are declined-for-now by the
DXCC desk "pending documentation."

But -- they did submit that contest log.

Oh, did I mention that there was another rumor that they actually operated a
mile from the border in neighboring Upper AhdratheraveaVeeEight (in which at
least some held some level of citizenship), and since the governments of the
two entities aren't exactly seeing eye to eye -- something about a crocket
match that ended badly in circa 1387, the cause of several major wars and
other unfriendly acts -- that's actually as close as the operators could
get, at least not without risking the aforementioned appendages?

Under this circumstance, or one like it minus the sarcasm and snide side
comments... should the contest log be used as an end-run around the DXCC
rules?  Because if you agree that it shouldn't, then automatic acceptance by
the LotW system -- and by extension the DXCC desk and other awards programs
that currently use LotW or will in the future -- of a submitted contest log,
on it's face value alone, can't and won't work.

-----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 11:09 AM
To: Alfred Frugoli; Robert Naumann
Cc: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Growing New Contesters with LOTW - suddenly
it's 1977again


At 09:55 AM 5/27/2008, Alfred Frugoli wrote:
>I do, however, see the possibility of things going the other way.  At least
>for ARRL sponsored contests, all electronic logs have to go through LOTW,
>with a special tag in the file that marks them as contest logs.  Then ARRL
>exports the contest data from LOTW and does their electronic massaging to
>get final scores.  CQWW could do the same.  The catch is that every entrant
>sending an electronic log would have to be signed up for LOTW and develop
>the skills to get their log encrypted and uploaded.  As we've seen from the
>initial rollout of LOTW, there is a fair amount of resistance to the signup
>process, especially in countries outside the US.
>
>I too hope that LOTW becomes more functional - I'd love to get my WAZ
Award,
>which I have all the QSO's for through LOTW.  I just don't see any of this
>coming any time soon


I guess I should have expected this topic to devolve into another fruitless
round of LOTW-bashing.

But seriously, guys -- with good will on both sides and a minimal
additional effort, the way to implement this is to get the contest sponsors
and LOTW to work together.  The contest sponsor has a file containing all
cross-check-verified QSOs; how hard can it be to put that data in a format
that LOTW can accept, and for LOTW to enter it in its database just like
any other data transfer from another trusted server?

73, Pete N4ZR



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