K5ZD commentary

CQ WPX Contest 2011 Year in Review

With the WPX SSB Contest only days away it is a good time to look back at the activities of the past year.

  • WPX SSB experienced some of the best conditions on the 15 meter band ever. Record scores were set on nearly every continent.  DR1A raised the prefix record by over 200 to an amazing 1909 prefixes worked. We received a total of 5,143 logs.
  • WPX CW had even worse conditions in 2011 than in 2010 (I didn’t think that would be possible). Even so, LZ9W was able to increase the prefix record to 1365. Log submissions reached a record of 3,869.
  • WPX SSB saw 12 Yellow Cards issued for unclaimed use of assistance. There was one Red Card issued for a multi-single station that transmitted more than one signal at a time.
  • WPX CW had 14 Yellow Cards for unclaimed assistance and 5 Red Cards for more than one signal.
  • The third annual WPX Contest Survey was conducted in September, 2011. Invitations were sent to everyone who submitted a log in the 2011 WPX RTTY, SSB, and CW Contests. We received 6,500 responses to the survey with 3,584 completing the full survey.  Results are presented in 2 parts (go to part 1).
  • There were two notable rule changes for 2012.  The first is a definition of where power is measured. “Power is measured at the final output connector of the transmitter.” The second is to remove the 275Km distance limitation from the club competition.
  • Private links to log checking reports were sent by email to everyone who submitted a log for WPX 2011. Reports detailed the final score, any score reductions, list of unique QSOs, and information on errors made by other stations working you.
  • Tzetzo, LZ2FQ, created a new log submission tool to convert ADIF format log files into the Cabrillo format needed for the robot. This will enable users of general purpose logging software programs to easily submit their logs for the contest. Start the ADIF log conversion here.
  • CQ WPX Contest fan page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cqwpx) has 2,090 fans!

Thanks to everyone who participated on the air or contributed to the operation of the CQ WPX Contests. Get on the air and have fun!

K5ZD commentary

48 hours to start of WPX CW 2011

We are now less than 48 hours from the start of the 2011 WPX CW Contest. There may be a small chance of ‘cloudiness’ in the solar forecast, but not enough dampen our spirits. Looking for lots of activity and new records again this year.

Rules in 14 languages: http://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm

Results from previous years: http://www.cqwpx.com/results.htm

67 plaques up for grabs: http://www.cqwpx.com/plaques.htm

All-time records by world, continent, country, and call area: http://www.cqwpx.com/records.htm

When the contest is over, please use the new web form for log submission.

http://www.cqwpx.com/logcheck/

You can upload your log, have it checked for formatting and all necessary header info, make corrections, and then submit directly to the robot. It’s the perfect way to avoid robot anxiety.

Even if you can’t operate the full contest, get on the air for as much as you can. Please submit your log. It shows CQ Magazine how much we appreciate the contest and it helps the log checking.

A few hints:

  • Watch those dits. Letters like S, H, and 5, or V and 4, or B and 6, are often miscopied.
  • Copy the serial numbers.
  • Need motivation? Go to the score database (http://www.cqwpx.com/scorescw.htm?yr=ALL&mode=CW ), select your country and call area, then work your way up the scores. Always feels good when you pass another score on the list.

73 and good contesting!

Randy Thompson, K5ZD

K5ZD commentary

Blank Error Message from Log Robot

We are getting a number of emails from participants of WPX SSB who have submitted their log to the robot and received a blank error response from the robot.  While we work to get this fixed, I will explain how you can work around the problem.

When you send your log to the robot, it is checked for proper formatting according to the Cabrillo specification. If there is a problem, the robot message lists the lines where errors were found. You can read these, correct your log, and resubmit. 

The problem we are having is that the robot reply will stop after the text:

*** Informative Messages from the Contest Robot ***

There is no way for you to know what is wrong.  This only happens when the robot finds a line in the Cabrillo file that it does not know how to process.  Usually this is because the line does not have a Cabrillo tag.

The solution is very simple.  Go to the new logcheck page ( http://www.cqwpx.com/logcheck/ ).  Upload your log (or copy and paste it into the text box).  Be sure to select the correct contest from the drop down.

The logcheck utility will check the format of your log and provide a clear error message for all problems found.  You can edit your log from the web page until you have corrected all of the errors.  You may also see some warning messages.  These are things that will not prevent your log from being accepted, but indicate a possible problem you should check.

When all errors are cleared, the logcheck will offer to submit your log.  Enter your email address and hit the Send Log to Robot button. Your done! 

Check your email inbox for two emails.  One will have a copy of the log file that was submitted.  Save this for your records.  The other will be a new confirmation from the robot. As always, it is a good idea to come back the next day and check that your log appears in the logs received page.

Thank you to Tsvetomir Tishevishki, LZ2FQ, for all of his work in developing the logcheck utility.  It really is the easiest way to submit your log!