[PaQSO] Bonus Station Concerns

Sat Oct 2 21:11:44 EDT 2004

Have the various logging software programs been updated to fulfill the new changes in county line contacts?  

I will be using PAQWIN 2.5 and am curious how we need to log these?  Am I right that we issue these as separate contacts...  if on 2 counties, we offer 2 serial numbers and will receive two serial numbers (one per county).

Please advise.

Question: Why was this change made?  Seemed to work fine in the past.

Tnx es 73
Matt
N3NTJ

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Notarius <wn3vaw at verizon.net>
Sent: Oct 1, 2004 6:23 PM
To: paqso at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [PaQSO] Bonus Station Concerns

About the only points on which I agree with Jim is that:

-- the bonus station, because of it's unique stature each year, should NEVER
count towards any club aggregate score or county record (with the exception
of high score amongst ALL of the bonus stations over the years)

-- the W3UU bonus stations this year should all sign /R (or /M, doesn't
matter), solely to simplify logging processes for all of us, and to help
reinforce that the county may be different each QSO.

Although the W3UU situation is different this year... so what?  If anything,
I thing the W3UU teams should be congratulated for "thinking out of the box"
and coming up with something a little new and different to challenge us.  It
is up to us to rise to the challenge... especially since I strongly suspect
that in future years, other attempts like this will come up.  Besides, it's
not like it hasn't been done before; look at the IARU Championship over the
years and see how often the various HQ society stations have come up with
innovative ways for them to be contacted!

I, for one, am looking forward to working a bunch of W3UU QSO's.  Assuming
they don't change my schedule again (and unfortunately there is still a real
chance of that happening... amazing what happens when the CFO for the whole
corporation is coming to critique your store!)

73, ron wn3vaw

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim" <jss167 at yahoo.com>
To: <paqso at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 2:24 PM
Subject: [PaQSO] Bonus Station Concerns

> I have a few comments about the bonus station.  Please
> give a look to all of them.  Thanks.
>
> 1.Just because people question an idea, it doesn't
> mean you should take anything as a personal insult.
> Doing so causes many problems.
>
> 2.I think that W3UU should ALWAYS sign as W3UU/R.  By
> signing as a rover, this makes the software work
> properly.  You can't simply add /COUNTY, because that
> is an invalid callsign.  I like the KA3JWE software,
> because it works very well.  Many others use it too.
> This will work.  In essence, the bonus stations will
> be rovers, since no one will use the W3UU call from
> their home for normal purposes.  AD3E signs as a rover
> each year, but is fixed.
>
> 3.The mobile station should then sign as W3UU/R also.
> This would add uniformity to the logging software.  If
> he decides to sign as a mobile, this would seem to
> possibly jazz up the logger and be very confusing.
>
> A mobile which gives out QSO's in Dauphin would be a
> DUPE, regardless of how he decides to identify /M or
> /R, or whatever, if the normal W3UU station was worked
> in Dauphin.  There is no other way to view this, it
> has to be a dupe.
>
> 4.The mobile station should avoid counties with fixed
> W3UU stations for the entire contest.  This is also to
> be easier for logging.  Why go to a county with a W3UU
> already on for the event anyway?  You want to go to
> rare ones like Armstrong.
>
> 5.This may not be a big deal to single ops, but when
> you run a multi, it is.  No matter how many times you
> explain logging, someone always jazzes it up.  There
> should be no rigging of the software for this.
>
> Remember last year, we had a station driving around
> which was going to make mobile contacts while driving,
> then stop and make rover contacts.  To make matters
> worse, the phonetics given were "mobile rover."
> Arghh!
>
> 6.I see no reason why the bonus can't be at one
> location.  This is how it has always been.  Many
> people from the bonus club could be on with their own
> calls to add to the aggregate score.  I do not believe
> a 200 point bonus really means too much, anyway.  If I
> work the bonus 5 times, I still only get 1000 points.
> It will not quadruple the score.  Not worth going out
> of your way to work the bonus station.
>
> 7.Under NO circumstances should this bonus score count
> towards being listed as a genuine multi-op station.
> First off, it has the advantage of being the bonus,
> which makes people stick around to work it.  More
> importantly, each station can duplicate contacts.  Let
> me explain that.  If there is a W3UU in CUM on 80m SSB
> it can work K3AAA.  Now the other W3UU in DAU can also
> be on 80m SSB and work K3AAA.  If I have a REAL multi,
> which is fixed, I can only work K3AAA one time on 80m
> SSB.
>
> If this is allowed for scoring, all records will
> become meaningless.
>
> If the bonus is given legit status in the scoring,
> which county is listed for the county of operation,
> see what I mean?
>
> This should be EXPERIMENTAL only.
>
> 8.I do not know if the bonus score counts towards the
> aggregate of a club, we always seem to fight about
> this each year.  If each W3UU location got on with
> it's own separate call, the aggregate for that club
> would be lower, since more people tend to stick around
> to work the bonus.  This would also be an advantage
> others would not have.
>
> 9.Perhaps next year we can get one club to operate the
> bonus station in three separate counties, with EACH
> being a multi.  Then it's like having three bonus
> stations.  Is that fair to anyone?  Where will this
> end?  Rule clarification?
>
> 10.We need a clear set of rules, explaining what is
> permitted in excruciating detail.  This will alleviate
> all concerns, since the rules would then be spelled
> out.  I have heard many stories over the years of
> people doing bizarre things to bend the rules.  This
> type of play is similar to what happens in VHF
> contests where you have captive rovers.  All these
> guys do is go out and work one station, if anyone else
> calls them, they are ignored.  These are not valid
> qso's to me.
>
> I participated in the Mid Atlantic QSO Party in May.
> This was the first running.  There was a specific set
> of rules.  Before the event, interested people voted
> and spoke their minds, so the rules were quite fair.
> A few things were tweaked for the upcoming event, but
> it was quite successful.
>
> 11.Any out of the ordinary items need to be discussed
> well in advance.  I read about the W3UU operation, but
> didn't really consider the logging, until JWE made his
> posting.  Now I feel better.  Software authors must
> know in advance to see how their programs handle
> anything different.
>
> In conclusion, these items are meant to point out a
> few things and make the contest flow more smoothly
> this year and in subsequent years.  None of this is
> meant to be offensive.  We all get an opinion.  Thanks
> for taking the time to read.
>
> Jim
> N3PBH
>
>
>
>
>
>
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