[CQ-Contest] It wasn't a QSO... Or was it?

[Kelly Taylor]

Hi all,

In ARRL DX CW, I called one of the ZZ80xyz stations.

He came back to me as VE3XT. Following the advice of many stations on here,
I withheld my exchange to give him the opportunity to get my call correct,
sending only my call and putting emphasis on the 4.

At no point on his frequency did I ever send my exchange, but he came back
³R R R VE3XT ON TU² at which point the pileup resumed and the contact was
lost.

I¹m sure he¹s got VE3XT in his log. I don¹t have that particular ZZ80 in
mine. In my mind, the QSO never got off the ground. It was taxiing toward
the runway, but the plane blew a tire before it got there. Remember: I never
sent my exchange, so he can¹t have received what I didn¹t send.

I didn¹t DELETE the Q. I simply didn¹t log what didn¹t exist.

(I¹ve already filed my log without this ZZ80 QSO, so there¹s no risk of
post-contest scrubbing.)

In my mind, I did what was right. I didn¹t claim credit for something
neither he nor I deserve.

However, I suppose that the way log-checking works, I could have logged that
QSO and he¹d be the only one busted for a busted Q.

So, what¹s the collective opinion: Log QSOs you know don¹t qualify as QSOs,
or log everything and let the chips fall. Is the penalty for the guilty
party better or worse that way?

73, kelly
ve4xt