[UK-CONTEST] IOTA robot oddities-NOT!

[brian coyne]

Hi Mario, well I am certainly not regarding the matter as an oddity, I was well and truly impressed.
 
I only subscribe to the daily (or whatever period this reflector decides to send out bulk mailing) so I hadn't seen.how my post appeared until just a short while ago. I guess there must have been a few puzzled readers initially but they will now be up to speed as to the reason.
 
This is the first occaision I have submitted to this Robot and must say that it is absolutely brilliant with every credit due to be given to you and, or whoever designed, commissioned and put it into use. Instructions are clear and concise, the secondary confirmation required engenders a feeling of confidence in the system by the user and the greeting in the entrants own language was that final touch. Contrast that with the recent RTTC 2009 event where they changed the required format to cabrillo v3, required a completely different contest title for the log, reduced number of lines available for the address, plus a few other changes and all of that without publicising it! That contest must have produced more Robot 'bounces' than a Wimbledon Tournament.
 
As you have put your head above the parapet I do have a question.
 
Do you have a system which checks poor cw sending? I had 2 qso's with a guy who couldn't send for toffee. Even after numerous repeats he still did not make sense and i will likely lose points. I am certain others must have had trouble too. I put a note on the log entry to this effect, so how do you deal with matters like that?
 
73   Brian  5B4AIZ.
 
 
 


--- On Thu, 30/7/09, Marios Nicolaou <drmarios at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Marios Nicolaou <drmarios at gmail.com>
Subject: IOTA robot oddities-NOT!
To: g4odv at yahoo.co.uk
Cc: uk-contest at contesting.com
Date: Thursday, 30 July, 2009, 3:58 PM


Brian (et al)


I will respond on behalf of the contest administrator who may not have email access!



the robot has not gone crazy but worked out that based on your dxcc entity that your native language is Greek! If your email program was configured to show Greek then it would. However, the first part of the email you have received  should have been in English. As you have activated your log it must have made sense to you. 


The robot speaks quite a few languages in order to encourage contesters to activate their log. This is an important step as a large number of cabrillo logs do not contain correct/complete information in their headers. This limits the amount of interaction between adjudicators and contesters for things that the contesters can easily correct themselves. It also gives the opportunity to the contesters to upload photos, or link a video,  show the location on a map and identify their island. Remember.. the RSGB IOTA program accepts the contest database as a method of validating QSOs for the IOTA program so it's important for this information to be entered correctly. It also allows the adjudicators to get on with adjudication. With just under 1000 logs received we have already started the process and we are doing well. This means you get the results out faster....


With regards to the way of logging a portable station, log exactly what you heard. If there is a problem, it would be flagged and a "human" will decide whether you should be penalised or not. Any ambiguous QSOs always get screened.... The adjudicators check 10-15K QSOs manually to ensure that your adjudicated log is as fair as it can be. We also allow you to appeal for 2-3 weeks after the results are out. The number of appeals we get is very small and usually require clarifications rather than changes.




Remember the deadline this year is 3 weeks (ie 16 August 2009).  


If you have submitted your log and have not received an acknowledgement first check that:


you have sent it to : iotalogs at rsgbcc.org  (no hf  before the cc), 
ensure it is NOT in the SPAM folder (especially btinternet users) 
if NOT email the contest administrator (iotacontest at rsgbcc.org) or me and we will send you a direct link


73s


Marios Nicolaou
5B4WN/G0WWW
IOTA contest software developer