[PaQSO] Update

[Michael Coslo]

Hello all,


	Some updates,

	The mugs are in. We will be mailing them out as soon as we pick up  
the mailers.


	The database issue is still an issue. I am going to rewrite it this  
summer.

	re that, We do have a SUS county winner that I fished out of the  
database.


	Second, a timeline for the near future:


	The final results will be posted on the website any day now. I may  
have to dig a few of the results out by hand, but whatever.


	In the next several weeks, W3JXP and myself are meeting to finalize  
the rules for this year's party. Expect changes to be "medium" level.  
We discussed a number of issues last night, which may be visited in  
the rules.

	a.  Software standardization.

		Log checkers have been driven bonkers by some of the odd logs we  
have received. It is hard to find and keep a good log checker, so I  
like to be nice to them.

			pros - log checking will be a whole awful lot easier
			cons - some people like their software that they are using now.

	b.  The email problem

		A couple years ago, we added email log submissions. This has been a  
mixed blessing. While a great convenience for participants, the ease  
of its use has apparently caused some participants to not do *their*  
job carefully. At issue is strange logs and no summary sheets. We  
will discuss whether to modify procedures or eliminate email  or  
simply disqualify the incomplete logs.

	c.  The summary sheet issue

		This seems to be related to the email log issue. When almost half  
of the email logs contained no summary sheet, that is a big issue. We  
will be discussing the outcome of these logs in the future. It did  
neither me or that participants any favors to manually make summary  
sheets this past year. Dunno why, summary sheets have been required  
in the rules as long as i can remember.


	d. Automated log checking.

		It won't happen this year, but it is getting close enough to see a  
real possibility. I've looked at some software that is tantalizingly  
close to what we need. Thanks to those who pointed me in the right  
direction. The main issues with automated log checking will be in the  
new structure it will require from the participants. Might be  
pleasant for some, and not so good for others.

	Personally, I think that before automated checking ever becomes  
widespread, that Cabrillo will need to go away, or be modified. From  
what I have seen Cabrillo isn't Cabrillo. It's mostly a word used as  
a holy grail type concept. As in "once we are all using Cabrillo, all  
our problems will be gone".

	d. Lessons learned

	There are a lot of things that I learned since the preceding party.  
hopefully they can be put to good use. I intend to streamline the  
party in ways that will mostly be transparent.

	There will be some changes to look forward to. *After* the 06 party,  
the 1.5 point CW QSO is almost certainly going to go away, replaced  
by a uniform 2 point for CW.

	Perhaps the club trophy will be resurrected?

	I will post occasional rules issues here for feedback before  
finalizing this year's rules.

	The mailers for the next party will go out in early September. As  
usual they will have the rules. There will be some discussion on the  
paper score and dupe sheet inclusion. Not too many people use those  
any more.


	Finally, I need to remind people that The PAQSO party list is *not*  
the official organ of the PAQSO party. I am a guest here. I will make  
announcements on the list, and an occasional reply, but it is not an  
official list of ours. Most of the time, I try to just monitor the  
list (that's "monitor", not "moderate") 8^). I hope to continue  
monitoring the list, I also hope to not get too many emails  
expounding the virtues of some previous administrators! hehe. I know  
they were better.

	There is a simple procedure to follow if you want to contact me via  
email. Send an email to my personal address. I strongly urge that you  
ask for a return email receipt. Email is not a terribly reliable  
method of communications, and your email is competing with ads for  
cheap medicine, Nigerian money transfer schemes, Paypal and EBay  
phishing expeditions, and other spam that I don't want to go into in  
a mixed group. Simply sending it to me and assuming that I got it is  
not sufficient.


-73 de Mike KB3EIA -