[PaQSO] Changes to PAQSO Party rules

[Mark Kempisty]

If you've put in even half the effort I've put in over the past several 
years, you use logging software!  It improves your accuracy and cuts your 
workload.

For those who write specific state QSO party software, I'm going to go out 
on a limb and say it is probably a labor of love for them.  They've written 
it to reflect their own preferences and styles and have decided to share it 
with the world.  They may not be professional programmers so the effort to 
complete the program is quite large.  (It took me about 9 months of part 
time work to write an ADIF translator for KA3JWE's logger.  Though I am an 
embedded systems programmer I am not a Windows programmer and it took a 
while to get through some Windows issues.)  So any change to the program can 
result in a lot of work.

This year I used WB3W's program and I am looking at what I need to do to 
modify my translator to handle his file format.  While I left flexibility in 
the software, I'm now kicking myself over some of the decisions I made.  I 
think it will take me 2 to 4 weeks of spare time to update it.  That's a 
chunk of time away from the family.  So I can give no guarantees as to when 
it will be done.

N1MM's Free Contest Logger is updated almost weekly but does not handle the 
PA QSO Party's rule quirks well, otherwise it does support it.  However, if 
you want contest software that does everything it can to help you, that's 
the one to use.  This year I agonized over which to use and decided to give 
up a rig interface for a program that would handle the rules - particularly 
county line stations.  In the end I did not hear any line stations so that 
decision was moot.

73,
Mark N3GNW
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <heathkit at juno.com>
To: <paqso at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 11:42 AM
Subject: [PaQSO] Changes to PAQSO Party rules


I'm not a big contester, but when I do participate, I use my computer to 
assist me in logging.

Am I in the minority?  Or do most hams -today- utilize other methods/tools 
in their contesting activities?

I bring this up because I wonder if we are gradually chipping away the 
endurance of the folks who write this software when they have to spend time 
continually updating the software to accommodate the constant tide of 
change.

Forgive my ignorance, but maybe we don't suffer from a dearth of such 
software and therefore you can hit the DELETE button here, but in my recent 
quest to find some good logging software, I came across this statement from 
someone who actually WRITES software for our contest:

   ... Generally, rule changes result in a state QSO party program's 
removal.

I for one, miss Don Reamer's (KA3JWE) PAQSO Party program.  Not sure why he 
stop supporting it.  (Could it have been the headaches associated with 
constant change?)

Just food for thought..that's all.

Respectfully,
Danny Ruth
W3ZF   heathkit at juno.com    http://www.qsl.net/w3zf/

P.S.  BTW, I haven't made any decisions on logging software yet and was 
wondering if any type of "buyer's guide" exists to help me make my decision. 
Any recommendations for any logging software (that has wide contest 
coverage) would be warmly welcomed.


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