[CQ-Contest] 2014 SSB Sweepstakes Scoring Question

[Wes Plouff]

Okay, everyone, calm down. I did get the Clean Sweep mug at my club 
banquet. Sorry for not making that clear. When the mugs were handed out, 
the emcee made a joke that led me to the W1AW/portable scoring error, 
and eventually to me posting to the CQ-Contest reflector. I read the 
digest version, so apologies if someone else has already raised the same 
points I do.

This message is to tell everyone what happened.

First of all, thanks for the support from several contesters both on and 
off the reflector. Several of you made good suggestions for dealing with 
my situation. One ham who scores another ARRL contest (you know who you 
are!) wrote that he had noticed the same problem and modified his log 
check software to deal with multiple W1AW/p stations active simultaneously.

That e-mail and others confirmed my original concern that there was a 
scoring glitch in the 2014 Sweepstakes. Steve VE3RX confirmed that ARRL 
was aware of it. So I got the information I asked for. But wait, there's 
more!

In a different thread, Steve London N2IC wrote "I do feel responsibility 
for 'getting it right.' " He and another behind-the-scenes volunteer 
went to bat for me with ARRL HQ. This afternoon I got a nice message 
from Matt Wilhelm W1MSW, the ARRL Contest Branch manager. Matt wrote, 
"[Y]our analysis of the problem with W1AW portable stations and log 
checking is accurate." Matt also wrote that following his conversation 
with VE3RX at Dayton and, probably, what I've managed to stir up here, 
the contest staff "will take a look at how we can revisit the results."

That's more than I asked for. So now I have another request for the 
list. Don't write those angry e-mails to ARRL. They've already noticed 
the issue, and they're dependent on volunteers to supplement a fairly 
thin staff, so whatever happens won't be quick. As for me, even with the 
W1AW/5 deduction, I still got a better score than the year before, and 
I'm drinking coffee from my nice green mug.

73,

Wes Plouff AC8JF
Royal Oak, Michigan


On 21 Jun 2015 10:20:34, Steve Gorecki VE3RX <ve3cwj at gmail.com> wrote:
> Wes, I too got stung by the log checking software for SSB Sweepstakes. In
> my case, I set a new record for A class on the ONN section. Having W1AW/5
> marked as a dupe reduced my record score (not by much - 160 points or so,
> but never the less...)