[UK-CONTEST] Typing Skills and Contesting

[Tim Hugill]

Writing Paper Logs ?
We seem to be damned forever, although the thunderbolts and lightning
haven't struck us yet.

I know its not quite in the same league as the big HF contests, working
40-odd QSOs in short VHF contests on the odd weekend throughout the
calendar.

But funnily enough, some of us actually do continue to use Pen & Paper
during contests, make legible corrections on-site, then type-up the QSOs
into logging software after the event, CROSS-CHECK FOR TRANSCRIPTION ERRORS,
and then submit to VHFCC.  Sometimes, just sometimes, we do get zero
loss-of-points. And we have no plans to change.

(At risk of repeating myself from a previous post...)
So if it works for short contests, why not use that method in longer events
?
Which we did at GW2OP/p recently.  Three of our four band-entries had the
Operator paper-logging and a "Logger" listening alongside, entering data
into Minos. Across those three bands we had 529 QSOs, all of which were
cross-checked between paper & PC afterwards.  Of course the results aren't
out yet, and we are sure to have lost some QSOs.  But the errors that we
picked up prior to submitting logs were mostly in the PC-log, not the
Paper-log.

Maybe we suffer from a bit too much Fat Finger Syndrome, I don't know.
But we'll be continuing with Pen & Paper until struck down by lightning -
which a distinct possiblity at some of my portable contest sites !

73
Tim  G4FJK

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..............  I still wonder if there are a few guys out there who only
give out a few numbers in the contest via their favourite logger, or still
(god forbid) even a paper log, then post contest, re-type the QSOs into a
contest logger, so that they can generate a cabrillo or whatever - or am I
stretching the imagination too much.
Tom
GM4FDM
GOM
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