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[CQ-Contest] Reflections on comments about open logs

To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Reflections on comments about open logs
From: kr2q@optimum.net
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:06:19 +0000 (GMT)
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plus a few thought of my own.


1.   I have never heard of any serious contester (well, serious or not) who 
used  access to open 
      logs as a tool to figure out “who to avoid cuz they are a crummy 
operator.”  Every contester 
      I know wants to work everybody (if they count for points).

2.   In terms of Open Logs serving to reveal strategy, I have some real issues 
with this line of reasoning.  
      Here are some of my thoughts and opinions:
        a.   Someone who is not in the top ten has little reason to fear having 
their “secrets” revealed.  
              This is almost an oxymoron.
        b.   Throughout my contest career, whenever I have asked someone to 
share their log with me, 
              they have (and vice-versa).  Sharing log information with friend 
or foe is nothing new.
        c.   Contesters are, in reality, broken into tiers by multiple 
measures.  The most obvious tier (to me), 
              is how much time is invested in contesting (sitting in the 
chair).  If you are serious about winning 
              or even improving your score, you will do a lot better by 
operating more hours as compared to 
              discovering some “secret strategy.”
        d.   As others have pointed out, no two stations hear or transmit the 
same. Even if the operators 
              have identical skills and even if the stations are identical 
(which never happens), propagation is 
              the ruling force and no amount of looking at a log (or logs) will 
change that.  Odds are (for most 
              of us) that we need to improve our hardware (mostly outside) if 
we want to more closely emulate 
              the log of someone who did better than we did.  Study their log 
all you want; if you can’t hear 
              them or they can’t hear you, OH2BAD.
        e.   There are no secrets to learn.  Anyone worth their salt at 
contesting (meaning a die-hard, full time 
              contester) knows everything already or can access it with the 
multitude of applications and publications 
              already out there.  The trick is simply in the appropriate 
application of that knowledge.  Skill differential 
              is far more important than anything you can learn by looking at 
logs, unless you are a newbie.
        f.    Probably the real thing to learn by looking at other logs is MOVE 
TO A BETTER LOCATION…and not many 
              of us can realistically do that.

3.   I still think the value of open logs is DAYLIGHT and enhanced confidence 
in the integrity of the scores, or 
      more accurately, in the sequence of finish of the scores.  It’s also nice 
to know that if an error or two is 
      found, that you can report it back to the contest sponsors and have the 
director thank you for contributing 
      to the improvement process.

4.   As for the NASCAR analogy, I’ll try this one.  Imagine that you and your 
50,000 friends (and millions on TV) 
      gather to watch the competition.  You see all of the cars lined up at the 
starting line.  The flag drops and 
      then a giant curtain drops over the entire oval, blocking your view.  You 
can walk around the oval and pick 
      the curtain up here or there, but you can’t see more than that.  And when 
the race is over, someone 
      announces who won.  Open logs are sort of like “let’s go the video tape.” 
 Not exactly the same, but you 
      get the idea.  At least you can see the efforts of the other competitors, 
especially if you just beat them out 
      or they just edged you out.  It is not perfect, and maybe not even really 
good, but it’s better than being 
      kept in the dark other than for the line scores.  At least that is what I 
think.

5.   Finally, as an example, recently I had an article published in NCJ about 
“how” I won the QRP category in an 
     ARRL DX test.  My competition and I exchanged logs and we could see the 
scores go back and forth until 
     the last couple hours, where I got lucky.  I don’t think either of learned 
much, if anything, but it was a fun 
     exercise.  If either of us had invested more time operating, our 
individual score would have been better…
     probably substantially so.  Nothing learned there except to sit in the 
chair.  More recently, I did the same 
     with K2DM. George has been contesting a long time and in the last one, he 
beat me.  When I looked at 
     his log and compared it to mine, you know what I found out?  I found out 
that he beat me right out of the 
     box and never looked back.  I was never ahead of his score.  Did his 
hardware suddenly change or did 
     either of us suddenly have a change in skill or knowledge?  Did he do 
something that I should have done 
     instead of what I was doing?  Nope.  He just beat me that time.  What did 
I learn by looking at his log?  
     Nothing that I could use “against him” next time; just that he won and did 
so soundly.  But it was very 
     nice to see the other half of the race, even if nothing could be learned 
from it (and nothing was expected
     to be learned).

de Doug KR2Q

USUAL DISCLAIMER:  The thoughts expressed above are my own are not necessarily 
reflective of any group 
or contest sponsor with whom I may be associated.
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