[RTTY] CQWW RTTY

[I2UIY]

Hello RTTYers!

The CQWW RTTY will take place in 3 weeks so now seems to be the right 
time to give some free suggestions about log submission.

Despite poor conditions, this year we received over 1,830 logs for 
WPX RTTY and - as far as I know - it was the new all time log
submission record for a RTTY contest. I guess I'm not wrong if I 
think that this CQWW will set a new record, too. Maybe this time we 
will reach the 2,000 mark, who knows?

Both on my webpage (http://www.i2uiy.it/postcontest.html) as well as 
on AA5AU's site (http://www.rttycontesting.com/AfterTheContest.html) 
is still available the report I wrote after the 2005 CQWW RTTY. 
Please find few minutes to read it before the contest.

Advice #1: please read the Rules. I mean the OFFICIAL Rules printed 
on CQ magazine (July 2008, page 32/33) or on
<http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/RTTYDXContest.html> or on 
<http://www.cqwwrtty.com/rules.htm> that are the only set of Rules 
you can trust 100%. There are NO changes from the previous years but 
reading them once more would not be a bad idea.

Here are just few extra suggestions that will make the log-checker's 
life much easier:

+ there are no trophy and/or certificates for who sends his log one 
hour or less after the end of the contest: take your time, the
deadline is October 26 so there is no reason to send your log 
immediately. In the last couple of years we've got about 500 logs 
within a week after the contest: this is NOT good. READ YOUR LOG 
bufore to submit it.

+ please submit your log as an attachment (NOT in the body of the 
message). In the Subject-line of your e-mail message please write 
ONLY the callsign that you did used during the contest and NOTHING ELSE.

+ if you'll get your log returned by the robot, please remember that 
the robot ALWAYS tells the reason why that log has not been accepted. 
If that is not clear, just send me an e-mail and I'll find out what 
was wrong in your log. If you really want, you can post a nasty 
message here or on some other reflector but if you really want an 
answer, you better write to who handle the contest.
If the robot returns your log once... it makes no sense submitting it 
again "as it is" hoping that the robot will change his mind, it never 
happens. So it's much better try understanding what's wrong in your submission.

+ please do NOT submit .ZIP, .RAR, .LHA, .EXE, .DOC files. The robot 
will accept ONLY plain ASCII files. If you need - somehow - to edit 
your log, please use only NOTEPAD and/or any other ASCII editor that 
will not add junk characters to your file. DO NOT edit your log using 
a wordprocessor (i.e. Word).

+ if you submit your log correctly, you will receive a message from 
our robot within few minutes. Please be sure that the message from
our robot will be accepted by your spam filter. Remember: the message 
from the robot only means that we have received and stored your log. 
It doesn't means that your log is correct. Later, during the log 
checking process, we will look at your log and, if we will find any 
problem, you'll get a message from us.

+ if we are forced to write you because there is something wrong in 
your log... we expect to get an answer (a fast one, if possible) so
please do not ignore our requests: 3 or 4 unanswered messages to the 
same guy makes me quite (VERY) nervous.

+ Cabrillo... what is this? A log in Cabrillo format has 13 (or 14) columns:
- QSO:
- Frequency (xxxxx)
- Mode (RY)
- date (yyyy-mm-dd)
- time (hhmm)
- callsign SENT (YOUR callsign)
- RST SENT (xxx)
- zone SENT (YOUR zone)
- QTH sent (STATE/PROV for W/VE or DX for ALL others)
- callsign RECEIVED
- RST RECEIVED (xxx)
- zone RECEIVED
- QTH RECEIVED (STATE/PROV for W/VE or DX for ALL others)
- TX ID (only for Multi Op.)
If your software doesn't create such a log... you better find an new 
logging software or you better read the instructions to configure 
properly your software.

+ Some versions of TR Log POST places in the column #13 an 
abbreviation for the country. This is NOT good, please edit your log 
and remove it. Column #13 is ONLY for the QTH RECEIVED.

+ warning: 599NY is NOT like 599 NY.

+ please remember that you must log BOTH the SENT and the RECEIVED 
data. This means that a sample Cabrillo line will look like this:
QSO: 14075 RY 2006-09-23 0703 I2UIY         599     15 
DX     KL5E          599 01     DX
If you operate outside of W/VE, you will sent only RST+Zone BUT you 
MUST log (i.e.) "599 15 DX". Please make sure that your software does 
this automatically.

+ if you work a W/VE station, then you must log his State/Province 
abbreviation like this:
QSO: 14112 RY 2006-09-23 1259 I2UIY         599     15 
DX     W4UK         599 05     SC

+ if you are a W/VE entrant, then your log will look like this:
QSO:  7042 RY 2006-09-23 0006 AA5AU         599      4 
LA     OM8A          599 15     DX
QSO:  7043 RY 2006-09-23 0007 AA5AU         599      4 
LA     K4GMH         599 5      VA

+ please don't guess that handling the contest with computer equals 
submitting a perfect log. It is NOT true.
We know that there are (at least) 2 very popular contest programs 
that do not create the proper Cabrillo file unless you (very) 
carefully configure them. I did never used any of them but I know 
that this problem exists because in the past 3 years we had almost 
450 logs that gave us BIG problems (missing columns, switched 
columns, merged columns) and over 90% of them have been done with one 
of these 2 programs. My suggestion is to simulate a contest log: open 
a new log for CQWW RTTY, enter 2 or 3 fake QSOs and create the 
Cabrillo. If it doesn't looks like the above samples... you better 
reconfigure your program BEFORE the contest.

+ in 2007 we found that 152 logs have been rejected by the robot for 
various reasons and NEVER resubmitted. I fixed manually all of them 
(it about 10% of all received logs!) but this is a waste of time. In 
these days, RTTY is a 100% computer mode. So why people don't read 
the Rules and take good care of their own logs?

+ please read the Rules and learn what are the available categories. 
Please DO NOT enter a non existing category: it would be a waste of 
time. These (and ONLY these) are the available categories:
Single Operator - Assisted
Single Operator - All Band - Low Power
Single Operator - All Band - High Power
Single Operator - 80 Meters
Single Operator - 40 Meters
Single Operator - 20 Meters
Single Operator - 15 Meters
Single Operator - 10 Meters
Multi Operator - Single TX - Low Power
Multi Operator - Single TX - High Power
Multi Operator - Two TX
Multi Operator - Multi TX

+ remember: (1) no QRP categories at all; (2) Low Power applies ONLY 
to Single Operators ALL Bands (i.e. no SO-20-Low, no SO-40-Low and so 
on); (3) Assisted applies ONLY to Single Operators ALL Bands (i.e. no 
SO-20-Assisted, no SO-40-Assisted and so on).

+ there are NO possible sub-categories (no Rookie, no Expert, no 
Over-50, no Triband & Single Element).

+ in the header of your Cabrillo log you will find the "OPERATORS:" 
line. Fill it ONLY of you were MULTI-OP *or* if you did used a
special callsign different from your home callsign. If not, please 
leave it empty.

+ remember that since 2006 there is a new "Club Competition" 
category. I'm sure that each Club officer will take care to instruct
his Club fellows about how to fill the "CLUB:" line in the Cabrillo 
header. Please remember that World is larger than your own country...
so please write the name of your Club as it is, no abbreviations, no 
shortcuts. Remember that a Club must... exist (!) and that his
members must be located within a 275Km radius from center of Club 
area. When we are not sure if this limit has been respected or not,
we will contact the Club Secretary to check it with him.

Please forgive me if these suggestions seems too much for expert 
contersters but we expect to get at least 1,800 logs and there is
only 1 log checker...

Have fun in the contest!


73 de Paolo, I2UIY/NH7DX
CQWW RTTY Log Checker
i2uiy at cqww.com
Skype I2-UIY