[PaQSO] What's all the fuss about DUPES, anyway?

[Al AE2T]

On 10/13/2014 9:33 AM, Hank Greeb wrote:
> I usually don't comment in another state's party e-mail list.
>
> BUT, logging dupes SHOULD BE DONE!  Yes, even my meagre log for last 
> Saturday and Sunday's PAQSO party, which has less than 20 Q's, 
> (because I was distracted doing other things this weekend) has one 
> contact which some op said was a dupe, and didn't want to take it. 
> Yes, MAYBE I was in his log, but a careful search of my log resulted 
> in NIL (NOT IN LOG) @ N8XX.  I took the time to argue with the DOLT 
> who was saying that I was a DUPE, and he finally took it.
>
> Probably this DOLT, the LID operator @ N8XX, or my crummy, 10 year old 
> computer, or some combo thereof, accidentally scrubbed the first 
> record of a QSO with the PA station.  So I needed the contact.
>
> In >99.44% of the contests I've entered, DUPES are allowed, there is 
> NO penalty for having a DUPE.  It takes considerably less time to log 
> a dupe than to argue about it.   I "probably" have a half dozen or 
> more "DUPES" in any log from a contest in which I take even a 
> semi-serious interest.  I log em and consider it a privilege the other 
> person wants my contact in duplicate, sometimes triplicate.
>
> So, this DOLT, LID, INCOMPETENT OPERATOR who is the usual operator @ 
> N8XX is amazed, amused, and befuddled at all the comments about dupes 
> in logs from the Pennsylvania QSO Party.
>
> If the rules forbid dupes, or penalize people for having them, they 
> really need an overhaul.
>
> I now get off my soapbox and return to my feeble attempts at 
> occasional contesting.
>
> 72/73 de n8xx Hg (alias the LID, DOLT, INCOMPETENT ONE)
> QRP >99.44% of the times
> ______________________________________________________________
Hank,

You forgot the other kind of DOLT, LID, INCOMPETENT OPERATOR that 
meticulously scrubs any dupe contacts out of the log after the fact like 
there is some kind of bonus for a tidy log.

As long as there is no point claimed for the dupe contact, there is no 
penalty and they should be left in the log. Sometimes it even benefits 
the operator at one end of the QSO. Calls get bungled and misheard, logs 
get deleted, entries get accidentally erased and a dupe to one party 
might be points for the other.

Small contests like PAQP generally take a log at the operators word, but 
larger contests cross-check logs and removing a duplicate QSO can 
potentially cost one party points.

This DOLT, LID, INCOMPETENT OPERATOR, didn't even get on this past 
weekend, so if you worked me, it's not a dupe, it's a ghost!

73, Al AE2T