[UK-CONTEST] Contest end time - a consensus please.

[Andy Cowley]

Most watches will keep time to a few seconds a month, even
cheap ones. MSF clocks are cheap and second accurate all the
time. Any PC will keep accurate time for the duration of a
contest so I can see no reason why any contester can't know
the time to a precision of +/- 1 or 2 seconds. So the "I
don't know the correct time" excuse is just not viable. All
you need to do is set the PC clock just before the start.

I _think_ that most adjudicators will allow errors of +/-
2 or 3 _minutes_!!! when comparing logs. This allows paper
loggers some leeway so they don't have to log accurate time
for each QSO - quite time consuming if trying to run at a
reasonable rate. Software logging only records time to minute
precision anyway, so a small clock skew can easily produce a
difference of 1 minute on a PC.

As for "I've started so I'll finish", I'd be inclined to
allow that within reason, but others may take a stricter
view. As logged time is only to the minute perhaps an
absolute maximum of 60 seconds to complete would be O.K.?

There is never, ever, an excuse for deliberate interference,
which should result in disqualification and a report to
OfCom.

73

Andy, M1EBV