[CQ-Contest] CQ Contest Certificates.

[Rick Kiessig]

I don't think you need a new Cabrillo field for this. Instead, just extend
one of the existing fields. There are many possibilities:

The operators tag supports more than one callsign. One could be a
pseudo-call:
OPERATORS: ZL2HAM ZM1G NO-CERT

You can have more than one address line. One could be:
ADDRESS: NO-CERT

Or extend the X-QSO syntax to apply to addresses, meaning "don't send
anything":
X-ADDRESS: 123 Main St.

You could add a flag to the CONTEST or CATEGORY lines:
CONTEST: CQ-WW-SSB/NO-CERT
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP-ASSISTED ALL HIGH SSB NO-CERT

Or it could be an overlay:
CATEGORY-OVERLAY: NO-CERT

Or a dedicated soapbox line:
SOAPBOX: NO-CERT

The best choice probably depends on how easy the change would be to make on
the software generators and parsers.

(BTW, I just got a certificate for 2011, and was quite surprised!)

73, Rick ZL2HAM (ZM1G)


-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
Randy Thompson K5ZD
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 4:06 PM
To: 'brian coyne'; 'CQ CONTEST'
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] CQ Contest Certificates.

Brian,

You are right that it is expensive to print and mail certificates to
thousands of people per contest.  However, it is worth it when we get
excited emails from new contesters happy to have won their first award.  I
think we can all remember getting our first few certificates and hanging
them proudly on the wall.  Hard for a pdf file to match that!

We have discussed providing a way for contest participants to opt out of
receiving a certificate.  Perhaps they have a box of them or just don't want
to cause us the expense.  

The logical place to do this is by a new field in the Cabrillo file.  So
far, the people who maintain the Cabrillo file "standard" have not been
interested in adding a new tag.  Perhaps some more support would encourage
them to change their mind.

Should there be one new tag that says "don't send certificates or plaques or
anything"?  Or should be there be two?  One for no certificates and another
for no plaques/awards?  Or could it be as simple as a convention that says
if there is no address provided then don't send anything?


73

Randy, K5ZD

PS - Hoping for good conditions and lots of certificate/plaque winners in
the CQWW in just 8 days!