[CQ-Contest] Private Logs of Public Activity

[Ward Silver]

It amazes me that for an activity conducted in public, that requires active participation of the public, and whose success depends on being as publically visible (or audible) as possible, logs are not immediately and widely public.

This issue will soon be moot since wide-band recordings are easy to make and easy to store.  The only thing missing is an online user interface for queries of time, frequency, and listening location.  An enterprising programmer will find it straightforward to automatically recreate the log of any station by using a CW decoder (now) or a voice transcription tool (soon - well, the security agencies have had this for years).  In fact, the whole concept of a "log" will disappear as soon as on-line contest QSO reporting becomes the norm.

If I want privacy, competing in a world-wide ham radio contest is not really the first activity I'd think of. This isn't canasta and I don't get extra points for "going out concealed".

73, Ward N0AX