Here's the e-mail message I received 20 minutes before the start of the
1997
All Asia CW Contest:
[Dear Mike,
K3UOC@aol.com wrote:
: I have been unable to locate the results of last year's (1996) AA CW.
I
need to
: know how I (7Z5OO) finished in the all band-single op. category. What
place
: in Asia? Can you help me on this?
I am very sorry to tell you that you were disqualified. The reason was
NO
SENT EXCHANGE indicated on your submission paper. I know one of JARL
contest
committee members. He said that it was severely discussed about the
judgement and the committee had decided such logs were disqualified. It
is a
small mistake but they think QSO data put on the log are all and very
significant. I think you were using CT software and the same missings
were
shown on some CT logs. I hope you will win and be a Top of Asia this
year.
See you in the contests.
73, Sei
JF1SQC / KH0DQ
morikawa@miya.fujifilm.
co.jp]
My reply:
[Dear OM:
That is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. I should have been notified
many
months ago if there was an "irregularity" in my log. You may inform the
Contest Committee that I will no longer take part in All Asia Contests
from
7Z5OO or from any other location. That being the case, Saudi Arabia
will not
be represented in your contest. I am upset, displeased and humiliated.
Forward this message in its exact text to the Contest sponsors.
Mike
Manafo
K3UOC@ao
l.com]
I believe the JARL Contest Committee has acted very poorly here
toward
those of us who use CT software - not to mention those of us who might
very
well have won this contest had they not been disqualified.
Some details you should be aware of: First, the AA sponsors do
not
publish the results of the contest In English until the running of the
next
year's AA is finished. Supposedly JA's find out the CW results in
February.
Second, the AA has no web site and no e-mail address to contact the
sponsor.
For a contest supposedly in the 'second tier' of major events, this is
very
poor. Third, knowing that the JARL Contest Committee keeps the results
largely to themselves, I enclosed an SASE with my 1996 entry so I would
have
the results in-hand before the 1997 contest. I received zilch. If
there was
an "irregularity" in my log, the sponsors could have used that SASE to
inform
me of such. Better yet, use e-mail! After the ARI this year, I2UIY
requested my .bin file via e-mail to supplement my paper log. Not only
that
but he thanked me for participating in the ARI. Good move - I'll be
back in
the ARI in 1998. My e-mail address is widely circulated - the AA
sponsors
simply chose to stamp DISQUALIFIED on those of us who choose CT
software.
Hey, don't feel too bad for me. I'm not going to miss this
contest
very much. Other than the fact that the AA promotes some regional
activity
and competition, this really isn't much fun. There are too many
problems
with the AA. First of all, the exchange is useless. What "meaning" can
you
derive from AGE other than to visualize the "greying" of the contest
community? And this cutsie "00" for YL operators... I'm sorry, but
that
makes me gag. Second, it is downright unpleasant to be called
continuously
by other Asian stations throughout the contest. Apparently the AA
standard
that "the rest of the world works Asia and Asia works the rest of the
world"
has been poorly publicised. Many Asian operators call anyone who is
running
a pileup in this contest. This, of course, makes me wonder if their
entries
are DISQUALIFIED by the Contest Committee?
To have been DISQUALIFIED from a second tier, third-rate
contest.... I
just shake my head. DISQUALIFIED for not including a default column of
numbers? Go figure. This is about as wrong-headed a move as would be
possible
for a contest committee to make. If it makes any difference now, the
required
missing column should read "59944". One-thousand and seventy-seven
times.
So what would I like to see? Here it is:
1. An apology from the All Asia sponsor to those of us who were
DISQUALIFIED
for for the 1996 All Asia for using CT software.
2. A reinstatement in the scores for those of us who were DISQUALIFIED
for
the 1996 All Asia for using CT software.
3. If the sponsor will not reconsider this DISQUALIFICATION, then I
request
that my top score in the 1995 All Asia also be DISQUALIFIED because I
submitted my entry for that contest using CT software and likewise did
not
include the SENT EXCHANGE column.
4. A rethinking of this contest from the bottom up. If this means
getting
some new faces on the JARL Contest Committee - individuals with vision
and
rapport with the contest community - then that needs to be done.
Frankly, I'm real tired of all this back-biting and one-upmanship
going
on in JA today. Between the Scarborough debacle, JA1BK being tossed out
of
North Korea, and the 7O1A charade, amateur radio has sunk to new depths
in
Japan. I don't say this as a slam against JA DXers and Contesters
because I
have many, many friends in Japan. What I am slamming are those who
wield the
reins and control the purse strings in JA amateur radio. Smarten-up
guys.
You have begun to alienate those of us upon whom you rely.
Mike Manafo K3UOC
Ri
yadh,
Saudi Arabia
n.b. On a much more pleasant note, I invite you to drop by my new web
site
for a look. You'll read about operating from Saudi Arabia, the 9-band
award
I sponsor, view my QSL Gallery, and *new* as of today - scroll through
my 50
Mhz. log. Don't leave without signing the guest book! Look for 7Z5OO
next
in the Scandanavian Activity Contest (SAC) this September. We'll be
leaving
HZ on Friday and then returning September 2.
http://members.aol.com/k3uoc/index.htm
Thanks.
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