[CQ-Contest] What's the difference...

[Art Boyars]

... between using a "call history file" to store previous data (e.g., name,
section, etc.)...

...and looking it up on-line real time (or, for us OTs using the Callbook)?

Example: during NAQP CW last night, I looked up "Tom" to see what city he
was in.  (I like to see where people are in states of personal interest;
single-radio op's have time for this.)  I saw that his license name is
Timothy.

Of course, I did NOT change my log (I do not cheat, and, heck, maybe he
really did send "Tom"), but...

...would it have been be ethical to change it (right then) if I had a call
history file that had hinted that his name was Tim, and I used that info to
guess that "Tim" is correct?

If yes, would it have been ethical to change the name (DURING the contest)
based on Callbook info?

(Never mind the QSOs I had by hearing enough of a whisper of the other
station for my logging software to fill in the report from other-band QSOs
.)

73, Art K3KU