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

Wed Nov 3 04:43:39 PDT 2010

Hi Tom,

            Nope, I don't check the laptop prior to every contest. It's old,
it takes 10 minutes to start up; I've got more pressing things to do! It
gets used for contest logging three Tuesday's a month, should it fail to
work some time, I'll revert to paper logging. One of the first things I do
arriving on site is start the laptop so it's running by the time we're ready
to go.

Personally, I'd allow contacts concluding 30 seconds outside the contest,
however, note that this is different from my situation - I have a contact,
which, according to my log, started at 2227, no conclusion time is logged
but my guess is that the contact was concluded within two minutes, so, in my
opinion, the contact was concluded within the hours of the contest - I can't
say for sure, but the deliberate interference certainly added a number of
re-tries to the exchange of reports - There was a difference of opinion
about when the contest finished.

In the end, I guess the question is all about accuracy of timing equipment -
Perhaps there should be a rule requiring MSF timing?

"I saw several cluster spots at the weekend in the CQ World Wide Contest
- 21450.1 = out of band!!!" 

Another grey area of course - how accurate is the frequency measuring
equipment at the TX and RX end.

Roger

  _____  

From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of tom wylie
Sent: 03 November 2010 11:10
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] Contest end time - a consensus please.

Hmmmmmm - not sure I agree Roger.

You don't check your laptop before you go out on a contest - portable?
  As a dxpeditioner, before I leave home I check everything and then
check it again, and sometimes for a third time.   This includes any
software upgrades to my logging programmes, and out of necessity a time
check.

If you were an adjudicator what would YOU do if you were presented with
the problem of two stations having identical scores and one concluded
the contest 10 seconds before the hour and the other did not conclude
his QSO till 30 seconds after the hour??

I saw several cluster spots at the weekend in the CQ World Wide Contest
- 21450.1 = out of band!!!     Would you allow these QSOs or disallow
them?   Contest adjudicators have a very difficult job to do.   Often
you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.

It is pretty impossible for an adjudicator to know if a station was
running 399 watts pep or 425 watts pep so making an adjudication on
power for example is a no brainer, but something tangible like time, can
be easily checked and should be, and if your contact is NOT completed by
the bewitching hour, then you loose it.   Learn to listen harder and
talk faster.

WE are in a technical hobby, it should not be beyond the realms of our
ability to set the time on our laptop correctly.

I didn't used to possess an MSF clock either, but when I started to get
involved in Field Days, I bought one.   They are very cheap nowadays and
should not be used as an excuse for inaccurate logging.

Tom

GM4FDM

On 03/11/2010 10:43, Roger Thawley wrote:
> I should have stated in my original posting that we operate as a portable
> station. The laptop in question is only ever used for portable logging and
> very rarely gets to see an internet connection from which it could correct
> it's time stamp, as such I update the time periodically from my watch,
which
> itself is likely to be slightly out one way or the other. I don't poses an
> MFS clock!
>
>
>
> Reviewing the log contents this morning, I see that the contact was
actually
> started at 2227 and likely took a couple of minutes to complete due to a
> number of repetitions being necessary. The other party also persisted with
> completion of the contact, so, clearly, he also felt that the contest was
> still on!
>
>
>
> It's interesting to see that, so far, the majority agree that the 'I've
> started so I'll finish' approach (within reason) is acceptable. In my own
> opinion, this is fair practice but clearly a minority disagree - I have to
> wonder if there's a difference in opinion between HF and V/UHF contesters
in
> this area?
>
>
>
> Someone, offline, correctly commented that contacts with an 'END' time
> falling after the contest end would be excluded - in this case, no 'END'
> time is submitted, so that point is moot.
>
>
>
> Someone else suggested that I 'name and shame' the station causing
> interference - unfortunately my concentration was on the weak signal, so I
> didn't absorb any more than "G4". Given his signal strength, in all
> likelihood, he was, broadly, in the Manchester area. I wouldn't describe
the
> interference as serious - two or three comments along the lines of "The
> contest has finished" and "What time does this contest finish anyway" over
> the top of the station I was trying to work - he did go as far as to give
a
> callsign.
>
>
>
> Keep the comments coming!
>
>
>
> Roger, G0BSU
>
>
>
>
>
>    _____
>
> From: Roger Thawley [mailto:Roger at G0BSU.net]
> Sent: 03 November 2010 00:59
> To: 'uk-contest at contesting.com'
> Subject: Contest end time - a consensus please.
>
>
>
> My contest buddy and I have become regular entrants of the RSGB 6M, 2M and
> 70cms Tuesday evening activity contests. For logging a 'retired' laptop is
> used with Minos logger. This evening, while trying to complete the last
> contact of the evening, deliberate interference was received from a G4
> station, whose view was that the contest had ended, however, according to
> the laptop, when the contact was initiated, the contest still had a minute
> to run. In the end, I felt justified in persevering for a further 30
seconds
> to complete the contact, partly because I'd started the contact before the
> end of the contest and, partly, because of the deliberate interference.
>
> The view I take regarding contest timing is that I start and finish
> according to the time shown by the equipment I have. I accept that it's
> possible that the equipment is out by a minute or two - this is a
limitation
> of the equipment. I operate for the duration of operation allowed by the
> contest rules and what I gain or lose at the start of the contest, I loose
> or gain at the end.
>
>
>
> In the end, this is just a hobby! What's the consensus is my view of the
> world reasonable?
>
>
>
> Roger
>
> G0BSU
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>

--
I am fully aware that my youth has been spent
That my get up and go - has got up and went
But I really dont mind when I think with a grin
of all the great places my "get up" has been!
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