[UK-CONTEST] UK-Contest Digest, Vol 52, Issue 16

[Dave Sergeant]

On 15 Apr 2007 at 9:44, David Ferrington wrote:

> I used Super Check Partial in the last 2m contest I did, because its
> part of the logging program and is used to check you haven't worked
> the call before. I didn't use it to help complete the call.

I suspect David, as he admits who is relatively new to contesting, is 
confusing SCP with duplicate checking. The latter is a built in 
function in any contest logging program which deserves the name and 
is just used to flag stations you have already worked in that 
particular contest. Since you get no points for unmarked duplicates 
that is an essential function and is there just to make your 
participation in the contest more efficient. In the old days we used 
to use paper dupe sheets, things have moved on since then...

Super Check Partial is a database set up by Randy K5ZD of callsigns 
of known participants of major HF contests. It is built up from logs 
as submitted by stations, submitted by volunteers to the program. 
When used in a contest your logging software is configured to do a 
lookup of callsigns as you enter them which then suggests what the 
full callsign might be. For instance if I type in G3M it might 
suggest G3MCS and G3MEM as possibilities. It is still up to you to 
find out which one it really is... It has drawbacks, for instance I 
am constantly confused with G3YEC who I keep bumping into in the 
pileups, even though SCP also has G3YMC in it... It basically 
'suggests' callsigns and gives no information whatsoever about those 
calls apart from an implication that they have been active in 
previous HF contests. It is built only from logs of international and 
ARRL HF contests and it is most unlikely many stations David worked 
in the recent 2m club activity contests (or any other UK VHF/UHF 
contest) would be in there.
See http://k5zd.contesting.com/scp/index.html for more information on 
SCP.

On a related matter, the logging program I have been using for my 
rare ventures into 2m contests is G0GJV's Minos. This has a feature 
of doing lookups on previous contest logs - you just open those logs 
and it automatically displays data for your QSOs with the station in 
the other logs. As such it shows Locator, QTH or postcode information 
so is giving part of the exchange without having to copy it live. 
There again, knowing the other station's location is useful on vhf 
where you need to point beams and things (if one had those of 
course...).

I am not sure I fully understand the new vhf contest packet rules 
however. In the first breath it says they are banned, then it seems 
to encourage passing information about what dx you have worked to 
help others. A grey area indeed. In my view if you are connected to 
the cluster you are mult-op, full stop, regardless of how or if you 
use it...

73 Dave G3YMC

http://www.davesergeant.com