HI Steve and all,
If you haven't completed scoring the most recent 10 GHz and Up yet,
there are some aids that may make the task easier.
First, if you are running N1MM, you can download the experimental
version that includes the 10 GHz and up contest (and which will be
included in the next public release). It will correctly score the
contest for you. You don' t need to re-enter your contacts. Just click
Tools >> Rescore Contest and you are set. It gives of course number of
unique callsigns and total distance score in addition to the total
score. It is at:
https://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-list_file_gallery.php?galleryId=20
Second, I have added in the first printed field of the pdf file for each
record in the K1RZ/W3SZ Database the Azimuth, Distance, and Reverse
Azimuth of each station relative to whatever grid you enter on the
Database File Download Page. This is at:
http://w3sz.x10.mx/k1rz/K1RZDownloadPage.html
Just enter the grid for which you want distances, etc. and click one of
the PDF download option buttons. IF you click one of the "Download PDF
File Sorted by Call" buttons, then you will get a pdf file with stations
sorted alphabetically by call, with the distance and heading information
in the first column for each. The distances are rounded up using the
ceiling function, as required by the contest rules. I have not yet
implemented this for the "Download by Date" pages. I am busy with other
tasks and will get to that after next weekend is over.
The purpose of this page was so that Rovers ("Portable" stations in the
10 GHz and up lingo) can make a pdf file for each location that they
plan to visit and then be able to quickly get azimuth, distance, and
reverse azimuth information for any other station from that location.
The records can be sorted by callsign, grid, or azimuth at the click of
a button from the download page.
Third, if you just want a quick heading and already on the K1RZ/W3SZ
webpages anyway, you can go to the main page by clicking at the bottom
of any of the other pages, and there is a link to a quick Maidenhead
Grid Distance and Heading calculator that I put on the site. The Main
Page is at:
http://w3sz.x10.mx/k1rz/k1rzmaster.htm
and the grid calclulator is at:
http://w3sz.x10.mx/k1rz/NewLatLong.html
This last calculator does not round to integers.
All of these use the same Vincenty Algorithm that I've used for distance
and heading information in AircraftScatterSharp and PackRatFInder. The
former has been around since 2012, and the code is well-tested.
73,
Roger Rehr
W3SZ
On 9/23/2018 7:20 AM, Steve Kavanagh via VHFcontesting wrote:
Hi Bart
I am looking forward to automation of the laborious distance calculations for 10
GHz & Up log entry- over many years I've got pretty accustomed to it but it can
certainly be daunting to newcomers to this event.
Just to clarify - is use of the new log submission app mandatory for this
contest or can we still submit by email as stated on the ARRL website?
As you are developing the automated scoring you may want to consider the
following points:
(1) The distance score for QSOs within a single 6 character grid can be quite confusing.
The ARRL distance calculator gives a distance of 0 km, then goes on to say "The
distance between two identical grid squares is arbitrarily set to 1.0 km". So I am
now confused! But on top of this Rule 5.5 states that the minimum distance for a QSO is
1 km and your recent post says we should round up to the next highest integer. So
presumably the minimum distance score for a QSO in the 10 GHz and Up Contest must be 2
km. So some clarification of the scoring for within-one-grid QSOs will be needed.
(2) There are some satisfying bragging rights associated with the best maximum
distance on each band. But on the highest frequency bands, it's not uncommon
for the maximum distances to be just a few kilometers and the QSOs to be made
within one 6-character grid or between adjacent 6-character grids. As the
actual distance for a QSO within a single grid can vary from 1 km to something
like 7 km or more (depending on latitude) and the actual distance between
adjacent grids can vary from 1 km to a somewhat larger number, an automated
calculation can unfairly assign several km to a 1km adjacent-grids QSO and 1
(or 2?) km to a 5 km single-grid QSO. The same issues apply to longer
distance QSOs across more than one grid boundary - they just aren't as obvious.
It may be necessary to provide some way to override the automated calculation
in order to ensure fairness with respect to the best-distance claims on the
higher bands, even if it really makes no noticeable difference to the overal
l scores, in order to encourage development of gear that works at greater
distances.
73,
Steve VE3SMA
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