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Speak Out: Get those logs in!

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N4SL on 2002-08-02
The comments about checking for obvious typos is correct.

I scan my log, there is stupid stuff like accidental punctuation after a legit callsign or within a legit copied string, especially late in the contest when I am tired or during a really hot run when I'm rushed or flustered.

Sometimes the other guy will send a non-standard string, which is correct: IN or IND for Indiana? Guess wrong and you lose the QSO to a non-error.

I correct those blatent typos post-contest.

Steve N4SL

K8JP on 2002-08-02
I agree, the contest is over at the bell, but sending the logs in is not simply attaching a file to an e-mail on the same PC or the one next to you and sending it off for everyone. Some places, it means taking the disk to town on your next trip and renting time at the "internet store." That is, if it is working that day. If it is a snail mail delivery of their disk or paper logs, we should know since 9/11, it can take weeks. The rules are fine. Maybe it is someone with all the bells and whistles at their disposal that need an advantage over the better operators in a less advantaged location?

Anonymous on 2002-08-01
Anon: Duh, all the serious contesters check their log after the contest looking for obvious typing errors that the auto-checking will flag as an error but really aren't an error. That's as far as it should go however!

Duh, I should have made that free throw, my bad. Here let me do fix how I was standing and make try again even though the final buzzer has sounded.

VE5ZX on 2002-08-01
I agree with many of N2MG perceptive comments. However, as others have pointed out the submission time is not the problem - it the processing and publishing time. 30 days to submit and 30 days to process the log and publish the results on the web seems reasonable to me. Now real-time internet based logging and scoring is another story!

Anonymous on 2002-07-31
Duh, all the serious contesters check their log after the contest looking for obvious typing errors that the auto-checking will flag as an error but really aren't an error. That's as far as it should go however!

Anonymous on 2002-07-31
When the clock strikes 0000z Monday morning the contest is over...finished....done. If your serious in the contest your log should be closed. No post log fixing allowed. Any mistakes not corrected during the contest period should stay uncorrected. Send in your log ASAP. What's the big deal about it. I know of no other sport where the results aren't almost imediately known.

N2MG on 2002-07-30
"Instant gratification" is not the issue. Why delay it artificially? If it serves a purpose to delay log submission, then fine. If it makes sense to speed them up, fine, too. If the delay for getting the final results to "press" are reduced from 6-12 months down to, say, one or two months, a shorter deadline makes sense (as the submission deadline becomes a bigger percentage of the total time). But I don't really care if the results come out in 60 days vs. 45days vs. 30 days, as long as they appear in much less than 12 months!

Anonymous on 2002-07-29
Bring it on.

wa4dou on 2002-07-29
No

ve3syb on 2002-07-28
No, the time between the end of a contest and the deadline for log submittal should NOT be shortened in my opinion.

The deadline for log submittal gives contest operators time to review their logs to look for errors in contact information, to check for duplicate contacts, to type up their log (if they didn't use computer logging), and to send in the results (via snail mail or e-mail).

Contest organizers need to wait a certain amount of time after the deadline for entries coming from places with a slow postal system. The biggest delay is a result of the time it takes the organizers to process the contest entries and decide on the various award/certificate winners. The results from some contests (like a CQ WW) are not available until almost a year later.

The only way to shorten the delay might be to stand over the contest organizers with a whip as an incentive to process the entries faster. If you decide to try this method of shortening the time until the results are announced, I take no responsibility for what may happen to you. I only hope you are still around and able to participate in next years contest. :-)

73 de Kevin, VE3SYB

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