Pete,
I agree with you in principle that finding a way to interconnect the logs
submitted to the major contests with at least one of the major online databases
(not just Logbook of the World, but ClubLog and eQSL, possibly one day the logs
on QRZ.COM as well) appears to be a good idea.
My only question is, is this really necessary?
Uploading the contest log to the committee nowadays is as simple as emailing a
log or uploading it via a web page (again, for the major contests and many of
the smaller ones as well -- I know not all have this capability!). Is it
really that much more difficult for someone to send a second email. or second
upload, of their log to the major databases?
I know some will answer that in the case of LotW, the answer is "yes" because
of the TQSL encryption, and in most other cases, "yes" because someone has to
create an account. This gets into the can of worms regarding whether or not
someone wishes their log to be available via the online systems, for whatever
reasons, valid or not; I'm not sure that this is a can of worms we want to open.
That issue aside, I would submit that encouraging all contest ops, even the
most casual of them, to consider creating said account and doing a quick
additional upload would be more productive in the short run and possibly the
long run than getting into the issues (both technical and political) of linking
the contest databases directly to the online logs.
(And for those who don't know, ClubLog now has the ability to interface with
LotW)
73, ron w3wn
On 04/26/17, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
We all agree, I think, that casual participants are a critical part of
the total workable population in contests. I spent the first 40 years of
my contesting career working contests as a quick and relatively easy
source of award credits, and I suspect a large majority of the stations
in any contest are doing some variation on this.
There is a reasonably simple and straight-forward way to encourage more
of this, potentially yielding more people for us to work. We need
interconnection between CQ and ARRL contest databases, so that any
contact that is in both stations' log in a given contest can be claimed
for ARRL and CQ award credit without going through the QSL card process.
I'm not underestimating the programming effort involved, I hope, but
surely some combination of volunteer and professional staff involvement
can get it done. It could start small - perhaps a pilot involving the
CQWW open log database and DXCC. Imagine the value added to LOTW if it
were the hub for this process, and the potential increase in DXCC fees.
Surely, this is a win-win proposition.
--
73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
at <http://reversebeacon.net>, now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|