All of the WPX SSB logs have now been received and entered into the log checking process.  I am pleased to announce a record number of log submissions with 4759, an amazing increase of 672 (16%) over last year’s record. The band conditions on Saturday were excellent and that increased activity levels on 10 and 15 meters drawing many new people into the game.

I would like to recognize and thank the group of volunteers who offered their time to type in all of the paper logs that were received. There were 79 paper logs containing 11,058 QSOs. Three cheers to AE6Y, AG1C, AL1G, DF3KV, DL8MBS, ES5JR, G0SYP, HA3LN, IZ1LBG, K0HB, K0XU, K1PX, K2DSL, K3TD, K4BAI, K8IA, K8PO, KM6I, KU5B, KU7Y, N1CC, N1NK, N1XS, N5IE, N8RA, NF4A, NJ1F, NM5M, NQ7R, OH6LI, SM6LRR, UA4FER, VK4TI, W1GD, W1KM, W2JU, W4AU, W6VMS, W8AEF, WY0B, and ZP9EH. Wow!  With so many people involved, no one had to do too much work.  Champion typers in terms of QSOs entered were UA4FER (299), K2DSL (353), DL8MBS (407), N1XS (425), W2JU (532) and K8IA (626). Why do we do take paper logs?  Because we want to give everyone a chance to enter the contest and see their fully checked score in the results.

One of the most popular aspects of the WPX Contests are the Overlay Categories.  I am particularly interested in the Rookie category, which is limited to operators who have been licensed for 3 years or less at the time of the contest. After a long afternoon validating operator license dates, I was very pleased to see that we had 167 Rookie entries in WPX SSB. They included a wide range of ages including both 9 year old boys and girls. Visit the logs received page and look for Rookie in the Overlay column to see if your log was accepted for the category. If you see someone who has been licensed less than 3 years and submitted a log, please let me know and we can still add them into the results!

From here the log checking turns toward certifying the correct order of finish in each category. We will be using many of the same tools and techniques used by the CQ WW Committee in their investigation of single operator entries that did not specify use of the DX Cluster (spotting). If you want to revise your category and avoid possible Yellow or Red cards, please let me know immediately!  Once the checking begins, there will be no leniency. If you are contacted to confirm your category or power level, please answer promptly and honestly.  It will help make the game of contesting better for everyone.