[UK-CONTEST] Ending time

[cris at gm4fam.plus.com]

Lee, as ever, makes some good points.

Up here near the Arctic Circle S&P is usually the norm at the start of AFS
CW cos the skip just isn't there for running.

I did just that in the 2009 contest - well remember finding a loud station
who started calling CQ at dead on 1359z and then magically added 'test' as
soon as 1400z arrived.

Seems that a lot of fuss is being made about completing one QSO started
within the contest period whereas a mini-pileup can be generated before
the starting gun sounds.

So, for contest ending time what are we talking about is completing (not
starting) one QSO out of a total of 150, 200, 250 - ie between 0.4 and
0.7% of an entrant's QSO total. In terms of time taken to complete the
QSO, say 30 seconds, this equates to about 0.2% of total contest time.

Nit picking or what?!

73 Cris
GM4FAM



> Hi all,
> Despite being discussed at great length previously, there is still a
good
> deal of confusion on this topic.  At least one respondent still feels happy
> to exchange contest information after the contest has (just finished),
so
> the message is not getting through.
> It's not clear to me though how it's been decided that a QSO has ended, (or
> started for that matter.)   For example, in AFS SSB, I was aware from
earlier emails of the possibility of wideband recordings being made.  I
did
> actually make a QSO in the final seconds, and according to my radio
controlled clock in the shack, completed contest information exchange on
time. But, I then added "phew, that was close" or something similar, and
then said I was going QRT well into the following minute.  This isn't
part
> of the contest data, perhaps it's part of a QSO (as technically I'm talking
> to someone) but it's certainly RF transmitted after the contest has
finished. Whilst not helping to give either of us a good score, Steve
G3UFY
> and I did very briefly discuss his narrowboating holiday during AFS SSB
-
> this wasn't the final QSO, but it could have been.   Not exactly crystal
clear, is it?   This will cause more arguments unless there is more
clarity
> given.
> Ok, so perhaps only a subset of entrants transmit any RF at all after
the
> finish. But it's worse at the start, as the whole band will be full of
entrants having warmed up their frequencies for minutes or hours
beforehand.
> Some people seem to call CQ or CQ Contest (or are still 'testing') in
the
> seconds before, so that they can receive their first reply at the exact
start time.  Some will be half way through a CQ call as the clock ticks
over.  Some may push this even further.
> No amateur automated system can decode voice transmissions to work out
what's going on, for verifying exactly when a CQ call starts or the
contest
> exchange is finished for each and every contact at the start and end of the
> contest.  It's impossible for voice, (following comments made about 'SSB
Skimmers' according to national voice recognition experts in the field)
and
> technically difficult to verify that any RF is actual contest
information
> and not pre- or post-contest ramble / euphoria / depression, for each
CW,
> RTTY and PSK stream on the band.  It's not just the simple case of
looking
> for rare, stray traces of RF on a panadapter as might have been
originally
> contemplated.
> If automation is out, I find it very hard to believe that the committee
would manually replay the start and the end of the contest (+/- 5-10
seconds
> for each replayed station to understand the context of what's going on, not
> counting retuning and identifying each station (who may not have given
their
> exact frequency in their submitted log which may have helped)) for
perhaps
> hundreds of separate QSOs for each event, as it could in my estimation
potentially double the amount of time needed to adjudicate each contest
for
> relatively little benefit.  In the club events, each entrant contributes
equally, and Steve has said below that the rules will be applied equally
to
> everyone.  But if there is the intention to clamp down "to the second",
I
> don't see much choice other than to follow the manually laborious route
if
> the declared intent will be actually followed up on robustly.  Something
doesn't make sense.
> I guess there is no 100% concensus of what happens just when the contest
starts either.  Running stations are obviously identified on frequency
long
> beforehand.  Technically I wouldn't think they should call "contest" before
> the start.  Some just leave a pause and it's the calling station that kicks
> the whole thing off at 20:00 or 14:00 or whatever with their callsign?
It's a good thing to reduce rubber-clocking, but getting this right "to
the
> second" has difficulties.
> 73,
> Lee G0MTN