[CQ-Contest] Two questions about CQ WW SSB contest logging

[Hank Greeb]

I admit to making an "after contest" adjustment of my cabrillo file for 
the recent CQ WW SSB contest.  I wasn't quite "with it" when I started 
the contest, and gave one fellow a "Zone 5" instead of my "real" Zone 
4.  I tried to edit the contact to put zone 5 in the contact line, but 
didn't see any "CQ Zone" in the "Edit Contact" box.  Since I couldn't 
change the CQ Zone during the contest, I entered "sent zone 5 instead of 
zone 4" in the comment field, and after the fact I changed the one log 
line in my cabrillo file to Zone 5.

I now think (but am not sure) that the zone COULD have been changed for 
this one contact by entering "5" in the "exchange" box, but it wasn't 
obvious during the heat of the contest.  And, I'll never understand why 
the "comment" field is in the "Edit contact" pane, but to retrieve the 
data one must go to VIEW>NOTES (NOT VIEW>COMMENTS).  This resulted in a 
big puzzle, and a note to my two "Elmers" for N1MM software, who pointed 
out that "Comments" were labeled "Notes" under the VIEW tab.

Should my "after the fact editing" of this one line in the log result in 
disqualification of my entry, and should an orange or red card be 
issued?  The rules specifically say I should not massage the log after 
the fact.  My reasoning was that I had the data in the comment or note 
Field in the N1MM "raw" log, couldn't figure out how to edit it "on the 
fly," and I didn't want to penalize the other station for a busted QSO 
because of my error.

====================

The other question involves a newbie who entered the contest using a 
"non contest" logging programme.  It supposedly made a cabrillo file, 
but the result did NOT have his zone, nor did it have the received 
signal report.  We managed to "massage" this log with Notepad edit 
feature, so that it conformed with the cabrillo specs provided by CQWW.

Yes, again, the rules say one should NOT edit the file after the contest.

The choice was either NOT submit a log, or do this rather massive 
editing by putting the local zone and the received signal report into 
the cabrillo file.  We didn't make any "corrections" just added data 
which was in the original log but did NOT show up when the programme 
made a "so called" cabrillo file.  I figure that he might be encouraged 
to see his call amongst the other folks in the CQ Writeup, and we might 
have another contester amongst this seemingly dying breed of US Hams.  I 
also encouraged him to try his logging software to make sure it will do 
the correct cabrillo file prior to entering another context.

Comments will be appreciated.

72/73 de n8xx Hg
QRP >99.44% of the time