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Speak Out: Get those logs in!

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on4mgy on 2004-07-07
NO
1 month is short enough. When I particiapte a weekend in a contest, I have to work all week after the contest. The next weekend I'm making some time for family and friends, and then I'll have to go to do my job again. After 2 or 3 weeks i'll have a little time to check the log and send it in.
You'll have to wait about one year for the results, so sending in the logs 2 weeks earliet won't make much difference!

73

Anonymous on 2004-06-08
I had to go back and delete one log entry, but didn't have time during the contest. Made a note, then went immediately to the log, found the contact, and deleted it. Submitted my log within 24 hours of the end of the contest (once my brain recovered).

Anonymous on 2003-06-23
If the contest is over when the "bell
rings", then why not have the logs be
in at that time? You can stop making
contacts far enough before 0000Z to
actually get the email in on time.
Never mind those old fogies (of all ages) who log on paper.
Of course, few would send in any logs at
all with such a rule, but so what? If
the results are not published, why go to
the trouble of sending in logs?

Alan, wa6azp

N2MG on 2003-03-17
http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/cq-contest/2003-March/050874.html

"PLEASE NOTE: The NCJ Contest directors have agreed to shorten
the log submission deadline to 7 days for the CW and SSB sprints
starting in September. It will be our goal to have these results
out quickly after the log deadline. Please help spread the word."

N2MG on 2003-02-10
VE4XT wrote:
<< Shortening the log submission deadline as a way to speed results forgets one key thing: the month it takes to reach the deadline is only a small part of the delay in publishing results.>>

Hi Kelly,

The context in which it makes sense to shorten the submission delay is in domestic contests and ones where the log checking had been honed to as nearly an exact science as possible - all Cabrillo logs, stable log checking software, etc., and the results being published on the web. In that case, the submission deadline could very well be a significant portion of the time-to-market of the results. It is possible that Sweepstakes results could be known in as little as 30 days post-submission deadline.

Still... I could wait the extra 15 days. ;-)

73 Mike N2MG

VE4XT on 2003-02-01
Shortening the log submission deadline as a way to speed results forgets one key thing: the month it takes to reach the deadline is only a small part of the delay in publishing results.

Results are compiled and verified by volunteers, people who also have lives. It would be difficult to build a business case to have the work done by paid personnel, unless we would like to pay entry fees.

Also, there are DX-peditions and other valid reasons why even a month is tight for some people: people who we need to be in the contest. How would you like a DX contest where there were no DX-peditions because it didn't make sense to launch a DX-pedition for which you couldn't submit a log?

In with all due respect, W3CF, you are being waaaayyyy too hard on yourself. Your prerogative, but while you are correct if you think that you should not use post-editing to correct errors in copying, honest typing errors are a different matter. A log is supposed to be an accurate representation of what happened ON THE RADIO, not between your brain and the keyboard. If you honestly got the call and exchange correct, there's no shame in making your log reflect that.

Anonymous on 2002-12-12
The usual month to get the logs in is fine in my opinion. But I sure do wish the results could get published (electronically or otherwise) in less than the usual 9 months!

W3CF on 2002-11-30
I know I am in the minority but I believe the contest stops at 2400z. You chose to computer log, you participated in a competition that tested your ability to use the tools at your disposal. Post contest log manipulation / editing is (to me) not in the spirit of the rules. I have never ever gone back over my log and corrected typos. Post contest I do a writelog and e-mail the file to the Royal Statistician K3WW who sends all the files enmasse. I also do not touch type. I have to make as sure an attempt to get the call and exchange right and enter it correctly into the logger.

Again this is me and I know log editing goes on in every contest. I do not know the answer to it other than writing code to disable all manipulation after 2400z. You can still mail it any time you want but you can't fiddle with it post contest. Some of these run rates you hear about may not be as good if you have to get it right before going to the next Q. UBN's might suffer a bit too :-)
ADDITIONALLY I believe the penalty much too harsh. One for one is sufficient

k2af on 2002-11-19
aa7ya,

Consider yourself lucky - many of us heard not a single PQ all weekend.

k2af

aa7ya on 2002-11-19
Furthermore, there should be no excuse for a mistyped ARRL Section identifier, you can readily attain the list of Section Abbreviations from the ARRL website itself, and the contest logging software has that ability to show you the multiplier list with the proper ARRL Section Abbreviations.

For instance, this weekend during the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes, I initially typed QC for Quebec, my logging program gave me an "Unknown Multiplier", so I had to dig out Section Abbreviation List and correctly changed it to PQ. From then on, all the stations in Quebec I worked I knew the section was PQ and not QC.

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