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If you are starting to plan ahead for the CQ World Wide DX Contests in 2008, then some of your homework is already posted on the internet, as the CQ WW DX Contest Committee has released the logs from the 2007 CQWW SSB test.
In all, some 4,876 logs are available for your review from 1A3A to ZY7EAM. Log error files for each call are not public, as the so-called UBN/NIL files can be accessed only with a password from CQ WW.
The list of SSB logs from the 2007 CQ WW test can be seen at http://www.cqww.com/ssblogs.htm.
There was no formal announcement of the release, which was accompanied by the accidental publication of score information from last year's SSB test (see story at right.)
The 2007 CW contest logs are expected to be posted as well in coming weeks, as results from last year's twin DX contests are published in CQ Magazine.
The release of those results also seems likely to be accompanied by new contest rules that will address the controversial CW Skimmer software.
Sources have indicated to radio-sport.net that use of the Skimmer by a single op will be considered an "Assisted" entry.
The move last year to post CQ WW Contest logs on the internet prompted some controversy at the time, but that quickly faded. It returned just before this year's Russian DX contest.
"The CQWW public logs policy was reached for the sole purpose of demonstrating program integrity," wrote Doug Zwiebel KR2Q on the CQ-Contest reflector in March.
"It's called DAYLIGHT. This permits scrutiny by the contest community...and the possibility of feedback to the contest sponsor...AND...to the individual entrant."
But not everyone has welcomed the release of contest logs.
"There is no legitimate purpose for anyone outside the sponsoring organization to study the log of a particular station," argued Joe Subich W4TV.
So far, the only major contest to join CQ WW in releasing logs is the Russian DX Contest, which will begin posting logs when results are available for the 2008 test.
The ARRL has given no public hints over the last year on whether the issue is being seriously considered for ARRL contests or not.
Public UBN and NIL information on log mistakes is still restricted by almost every contest, except for the EU HF Championships, which allow anyone to review bad contact information for each competitor.
(For example, you can review the log checking report of 2007 EU HF Mixed High Power winner RK3AWL.)
That occurred as the CQ WW Contest Committee publicly released individual contest logs from the 2007 SSB test.
The URL for the broader score information was published on the CQ-Contest reflector, and for a short period, anyone going there was able to download the final scoring data for all stations in the 2007 SSB contest.
While radio-sport.net has those numbers thanks to our readers, we will wait to release that data until the 2007 SSB contest results are published in CQ Magazine.
The data does not include specific UBN and NIL information for each station, but rather a broader overview that includes contacts and mults by band, claimed and final scores, score reductions and time spent operating.
What keys are you looking for? What ideas did you come up with?
Also, do you think the ARRL should follow suit and open logs as well? What about other major CQ Magazine contests?
Send us an email at radio-sport.net
