[CQ-Contest] The legacy of not working dupes

[john at kk9a.com]

I also noticed a lot of dupes in the ARRL RU contest last weekend.  My  
first one was only 16 minutes into the contents and this same K8 duped  
me again on the same band later.  There are many ways this can happen,  
no computer logging, some people do not pay attention and log me as  
the station that I previously worked, sometimes W4AAA does not decode  
properly and may print as W4AAW or W4AA from the SCP, sometimes a  
station can forget to actually enter a callsign into the log, etc. I  
almost always work dupes and just move on the the next QSO. The  
exception might be when I cannot cleary copy the station or when I  
have only seconds of op time remaining. Working dupes is right thing  
to do, it is quick and everyone will get a QSO point with minimal  
inconvenience. Don't waste time looking up the previous QSO data, just  
worked them again. I noticed in Sweepstakes many stations will not  
work dupes, I got the QSO before QRZ in my face several times last  
November in SS CW and SS Phone.  This is ridiculous, if you were in my  
log I would not be calling you. There is no reason to have a perfect  
dupe free log.

John  KK9A (W4AAA in 2020 RU)


Jeff Blaine ac0c wrote:

I worked a LOT of dupes in the RU this year.  Some were coming for the
3rd time on the same band!  In this contest it's not uncommon but just
seemed more than the usual - I suppose that's a reflection of some guys
playing in the RTTY RU and not using a proper logger, or FTx guys trying
their hand at RTTY.   Don't mind working dupes at all because sometimes
they get my call wrong or I log it wrong on my end.  And it only takes a
few seconds to work them again.  It's normally faster than doing a dance
to figure out what's in the log that's needs to be fixed.  And it's
better to be safe and in the log than short by one on the long end.  Or
maybe I have it wrong and cool dudes don't work dupes.

Funny story to relay from the RTTY RU.  I was S&P and called a guy that
had apparently worked me - but was not in my log.  I got the "BEFORE"
reply which I get a few times each contest and for that case, I have a
short macro that says "NIL - plz work again".  And to my complete
amazement the guy sent a reply - apparently typed by hand as the pace
was a bit slower than normal macro exchange speed - "dont think so."
Wow, never had someone tell me that.   So the net result of this is he
lost a point because he's not in my log and that will pop in the cross
check. And we must have wasted a minute or two doing the dance.  Good
move all around, OM!

So every contest club needs to open their 2020 meetings again with
"always work the dupes."

73/jeff/ac0c
alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
www.ac0c.com