One email response seemed to agree with me there
isn't a clear consensus.
It seems in the spirit of things, that on-time shouldn't
start until your first QSO. That would mean you're not penalized
for <1hr minimum off-times before you start.
But if that's true, then it would make sense that you're not penalized
for <1hr minimum off-times after you end.
If so, then the rules should be:
On time is calculated from your first qso to your last qso.
Maximum of N hours of on-time, with interspersed off-times of minimum
1 hour.
If that isn't the rule, than I think there needs to be rule clarification,
because of a variety of possible interpretations (thru no mal-intent)
I know I came up with my interpretation on the fly towards the
end of the contest with my brain muddled, and after some
sleep couldn't understand why I thought it made sense.
Another question is consistency of logging programs. I don't know
how all the logging programs report on/off time, and it would be
a shame to operate the wrong way because of logging program feedback.
while I'm on it:
A fine detail: N1MM logger, for example, appears to compute off time by
subtracting QSO times down to the second, then rounding up to minutes.
But the cabrillo log outputted has the timestamps truncated to minutes.
This can lead to 1 minute more in reported off times while operating, compared
to what you compute from the cabrillo log.
If you have a number of off periods, these minutes add up.
I suspect that log checkers might give 1 minute leeway because of
round off errors like this. but don't know.
You could say that the right solution here is for the operator
not to cut it so close.
-kevin
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