[CQ-Contest] CQ WW RTTY Contest Log Deadline

[Ed Muns]

The 5-day log submittal deadline for all CQ Contests was announced after the
2012 CQ WW RTTY Contest Rules were published in the July 2012 issue of CQ
magazine.  Those published rules gave 15 October 2012 as the log deadline.
Accordingly, logs will not be considered late for this event until after 15
October.  

To further confuse everyone, there was a programming error in the robot,
whereby the 5-day deadline was referenced to the start of the contest,
rather than the end.  This resulted in a robot informative message that the
deadline was 3 October rather than the correct date of 5 October.  This
error was corrected last night (around 03z on 4 October) and the robot is
informing properly now.

Submitting logs within the 5-day period is good practice for the upcoming
SSB and CW sections of CQ WW hand the other CQ contests, so why
procrastinate until 15 October?

****************************************************************

On another note, I've slogged my way through the "Help Me" email that I
received through Sunday.  I'm slowly working my way through the rest.  If
you are having problems with format errors flagged by the robot, please
review www.cqwwrtty.com/logs.htm for detailed information on the Cabrillo
format for this contest.  See if you can solve your problem before emailing
me, but don't hesitate if you can't figure it out.

It is apparent that many people do not read the robot email reply they
receive.  At the bottom of that email, the robot lists the format errors in
the log.  If you don't understand what the robot is telling you, then simply
compare that specific QSO line with the format specified on the Logs
webpage.  The problem should be obvious.

Major logging programs like Win-Test, N1MM Logger and WriteLog all create
compliant Cabrillo files ... IF you enter your data correctly.  For example,
if you enter your sent exchange as 'CA 03' in N1MM Logger, it will come out
in that (incorrect) order in the Cabrillo file.

By far, the major area of errors is with the QTH field.  Every sent and
received exchange must show a QTH field in each QSO line.  For non US/VE
calls, the QTH field must be filled with 'DX'.  All of this is shown in
detail on the Logs webpage above.

In particular, over 95% of all MixW logs submitted are missing the QTH
field.  Again, on the Logs webpage there is a specific set of instructions
for MixW users so they can create a proper Cabrillo file.

Finally, you can easily edit your Cabrillo file with a text editor.  Since
is it common to add, change or move the same parameter field in every QSO
line, a column editor is invaluable.  I recommend the freeware Crimson
Editor.

73,
Ed - W0YK
CQ RTTY Contest Director
--------------------------------------
Ed Muns
w0yk at cqwwrtty.com
www.cqwwrtty.com
www.cqwpxrtty.com
www.facebook.com/cqrtty