[NLRS] Fwd: Re: 10G test Cabrillo question

[Gary2]

It looks like some of you weren't paying attention before the first 
weekend. John, K9JK, and I had a good discussion on the subject. Most of 
it was on the reflectors.

The basic answer is that, right now, the best answer seem to be do what 
John writes about below. John was going to  contact the Contest Manager 
to find out how they wanted to handle on/off time in the Cabrillo 
format. It may have been changed by now.

I have tried entering my log from a spread sheet that is organized in 
the correct format using the WA7BNM's Web applet. I was able to cut and 
paste the contact info, but didn't try on/off times. This was a couple 
of weeks ago, so it's worth trying again.

I will have another look at the ARRL contest site to see if anything has 
changed.

73,Gary WBØLJC

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Re: 10G test Cabrillo question
Date: 	Wed, 7 Aug 2019 21:45:39 -0500
From: 	Gary2 <wb0ljc at comcast.net>
To: 	John Kalenowsky <hamk9jk at gmail.com>


Hi John,

My comments are at the bottom.

Gary WBØLJC

On 8/7/2019 2:14 PM, John Kalenowsky wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 1:32 PM Gary2 posed the following query:

> For the 10 G Cumulative, how do you handle On/Off times if the 
> Cabrillo format?
>
>
>     73, Gary WBØLJC
>
> Good question, Gary.
>
> Since the 10 G rules (in #2) do specifically state "Times off must be 
> clearly indicated in the log."
>
> There IS a tag named "OFFTIME:" in the Cabrillo spec. (pasted below 
> from http://wwrof.org/cabrillo/cabrillo-specification-v3/ ):
>
>     *OFFTIME:* /begin-time/ /end-time/
>
>     This tag is used to indicate off-time.
>
>     OFFTIME: 2002-03-22 0300 2002-03-22 0743
>
>               yyyy-mm-dd nnnn yyyy-mm-dd nnnn
>
>               -----begin----- ------end------
>
>     /Note: About on-time and off-time:/
>
>     QSOs in Cabrillo are logged with a granularity of one minute. The
>     use of one second granularity would lead to the question “during
>     which exact second did the QSO take place?”
>
>     The ARRL has taken the very sensible interpretation that on-time
>     and off-time also should be considered with a granularity of one
>     minute. In other words, during any given minute you can either be
>     on or off. Therefore 1801Z-1830Z would be a 30 minute off-time,
>     with 1800Z being your last minute on before the break and 1831Z
>     being the minute you resume operation.
>
>     If you make a QSO at 1800Z, take a break, and resume operating at
>     1830Z, then you have completed a 29 minute off-time.
>
> (Apologies that it did not 'paste' as cleanly above as it appears on 
> the web page for the spec.)
>
> BUT... I think that the OFFTIME: tag has fallen out of use...letting 
> the log checking software verify total operating time (which, for the 
> ARRL Sweepstakes is mentioned in the rule set as follows: "In 
> electronically-submitted Cabrillo logs, off-times are calculated by 
> the log-checking software.")
>
> As well, that may be a carryover from HF rule provisions...there is NO 
> mention of minimum offtime in the 10 G rules as there is in many of 
> the operating time limited HF Contests (from ARRL Sweepstakes rules 
> again "Off periods may not be less than 30 minutes in length.")
>
> I suspect that WA7BNM's Web to Cabrillo form doesn't support that, so 
> it would be necessary to put any offtime's in manually if you used 
> that to enter your log data.
>
> Might it be time for the wording in Rule #2 for the 10 G test to be 
> reconsidered? Does/has anyone ever even come CLOSE to 24 hours (let 
> alone exceeding 24 hours) of operating time amongst the 36 total hours 
> allowed by the two 18 hour windows, 6 a.m. local to Midnight local on 
> the two days, in a given weekend?
>
> 73, JK
>

As a rover I can get close to the 24 hour limit if I don't include off 
times. It's not uncommon for me to start the day at 7 AM and end the 
first day at 7 PM. Operating time on Sunday can be even longer 7 AM 
start and 10 PM stop if I am going to get close to home and make a 
couple of contacts in the evening with KØAWU and other locals. I may 
spend a three hours driving to get close enough to work AWU and the 
others. There was a time years ago when Bruce and I tried with K2YAZ at 
about 10:45 PM our time. We needed try with him before 11 PM, 12 PM his 
time. Then we worked N4PZ and W9ZIH. We didn't finish until after 11 PM.

I keep track of the On/Off times starting when I turn the rig on at a 
rover site and ending when everyone has finished their Q's and are 
getting ready to leave. I often run 11 or 12 hours of On time that way 
during a weekend. Without an Off time I could hit the 24 hour limit. As 
a rover Off time is the time it takes to travel between sites. It can be 
20 minutes, typical if we know where we are going, to an hour or more if 
we can't find a good site. As far as On time there can be the case where 
others are working the fixed group before me, but I have my rig on and 
may have been beaconing and listening before my first Q. That counts as 
operating time.

The contest time is continuous from 6AM Saturday to Midnight Sunday--40 
hours total. I don't know who would be operating between local midnight 
and 6AM unless they were doing moon bounce.

73, Gary WBØLJC


---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com