[PaQSO] PAQSO Results on line and news

[Mike Coslo]

MARK KEMPISTY wrote:
> The 2007 Pennsylvania QSO Party is a milestone in my contesting 
> efforts.  It marks the first time that I have been insulted and 
> disrespected by a amateur radio contest sponsor.  To be specific, the 
> Nittany Amateur Radio Club.

Hi Mark,

Since you have posted this to the reflector instead of private email, 
I'll reply here also. Ordinarily I'd handle this through private email, 
but since you chose to make it public, here we are in public.


> I took the time, effort and expense to activate Bedford County for the 
> 2007 contest, handing out 584 contacts and helping - probably - everyone 
> who earned worked all counties.  I submitted my log well before the 
> deadline but never saw it on the logs received page while others from 
> Warminster ARC sent in the same envelope did show up. 

Mark, what can I say? I scoured through the logs, and didn't find yours. 
How am I going to score a log I didn't find?


> Numerous e-mails and phone calls about the status of my log submission 
> went unanswered though it does finally appear as the last update on the 
> logs received web page.

Perhaps I should elucidate why - you had eventually emailed me your log 
and summary sheet. Seems to have been some communications.


> And now that the results for the 2007 Pennsylvania QSO Party are 
> published my call and my submission is NOT to be found anywhere in 
> there!  Only the two mobile stations who went through Bedford County are 
> listed and I did not hear either and had no chance to work Bedford myself.
> 
>  
> When I activated Schuylkill County three years ago, the same thing 
> happened.  But I attributed it to the change in chairmanship of the 
> contest and not all procedures had been properly passed 
> on.  However, two contests later, I see no improvement.



> I have taken great effort to not post the issues I have been having with 
> NARC on the Pennsylvania QSO Party email reflector but I can no longer 
> hold my silence. 

Mark, is it possible that you help the process of problems with your 
entries along?

I just found your log and summary. Despite our making every effort to 
allow people to send summaries that are standard, your summary was in 
html format. Numbers and scoring were all over the place. That is not an 
official summary form.

I had put it aside because it was quite difficult to decipher.

And at that point, it got lost in the shuffle. My apologies. I'm 
correcting the results now and will repost them.

But!

Seriously, if you filled out a regular summary sheet, or even an 
official sheet from a logging program, it would get counted the first 
time through, and not have to be set aside for special consideration 
later. We provide an official summary on the web pages that calculates 
and prints a summary sheet - it does all the work for you.

The web link is:

http://www.nittany-arc.net/entryforms.htm

direct link to pdf form:

http://www.nittany-arc.net/entryforms.htm

To top it off - Your Summary Was Wrong! It did not calculate the score 
properly. You might be interested in that because you got more than it 
said.

Your logs have been an issue as long as I have managed the party. 
Something is always wrong. Lots of people send their logs in without a 
hitch. What is the difference?

> It appears it is time for NARC to hand over 
> sponsorship of the contest to another organization. 

Respectfully Mark, a lot of organizations would simply DQ the log if it 
and the summary were off. Would DQ'ing your entry make for a better 
organization? Would the NARC be insulting you if they simply said "This 
one isn't complete or correct - toss it".

> In my opinion, 
> participation is waining not because of lack of interest by amateur 
> radio operators, but due to the actions - or more correctly, in-actions 
> - of NARC. 

The number of received logs is up. I think you might be confusing the 
poor band conditions - 40 has gone long the past several years -  with 
lack of participation.

> I had been considering activating Bedford County again this year even 
> with the high cost of fuel to tow my camper, but I will not.
> I highly 
> doubt that I will participate in the contest ever again.

Your choice Mark. I would respectfully suggest that if you do enter the 
party again, that you send in an official summary sheet. Send in your 
log in a manner in which I can find it - I still did not find it among 
the logs that you said it was with, only after you emailed it to me on 
12/27/07.

When something has to be set aside for special handling because it is 
non-standard, it greatly increases the possibility of errors.

You might think that I am an idiot, and that NARC is an agglomeration 
of incompetent fools for not getting rid of me. It's certainly possible 
that is the case.  But I'd respectfully suggest that you  give some 
consideration to the possibility that you may have something to do with 
the problems that you have had with us.

Just sayin'


- Mike -