I learned to contest during my first year at Georgia Tech back in 1982.
We had a computer program that ran on the Cyber mainframe computer
that was very sophisticated in exchange entry, duping and multiplier
tracking for the time. The problem is that the Cyber mainframe would
always crash sometime during the SS weekend. The downtime was always
several hours which made the use of this technology unacceptable.
So, we used paper logs and a poster dupe sheet that was on a card table.
There were two people at the operating position with a Y cable on the
headphones so each person could monitor the audio. The main operator
filled in the log and made contacts. The dupe operator updated the
sheet with the call of the current QSO and would notify the main
operator if the current contact was a dupe. Remember, back in the paper
days we had to have a clean log or clearly mark dupes in the log for the
contest sponsor. We may work another station again if they were
insistent on a contact.
The poster dupe sheet was organized in a spreadsheet format with the 0-9
call areas down the left and A-Z across the type. If K4BAI called you,
the dupe operator would look in the B column and move down to the 4 box.
If K4BAI was not there, the call was entered.
It made for great camaraderie and a time for a good pizza party with
this team oriented effort. It also gave the dupe operator a chance to
watch a good operator run a pileup.
When desktop computer logging program became popular, one operator does
the work of two. It made the team operating not near as fun since the
dupe operator turned more into a second radio multiplier operator
looking for the needed sections. The result was that these operators
did not work as closely together.
John Laney wrote:
> I used paper dupe sheets until I got my first laptop for contest
logging in 1993.
John Laney wrote:
> I used paper dupe sheets until I got my first laptop for contest logging
> in 1993. I never got more than about 3 QSOs behind on the logsheet as I
> tried to keep it up to date continuously. I used to tape down two of
> the ARRL large size dupe sheets to the operating table, one with 1-5 and
> the other with 6-0, so I didn't have to turn the one sheet over
> constantly. Good memories, but I don't want to return to that for a
> major contest. I still do some smaller contests that I don't have a
> logging program for with paper log and dupesheets, if needed. 73, John,
> K4BAI.
>
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