It’s been a couple days since the contest ended. Lots of work to do AFTER the contest too. I exported the file from N1MM and loaded it into a temp Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) database. I then use a program from WD5EAE called Ham Radio Deluxe Utilities (HRDU) which allows me to process the file against QRZ.com to pull in as much data as QRZ has. There was only 3 calls signs which QRZ didn’t have and I could find on hamcall.net 2 of the 3. The 3rd was a mistake. I corrected the call of the mistake.  The next day, in checking eQSL, I saw that I received a QSL from someone that wasn’t in my log. I looked and found another incorrect call (missed a letter probably when I clicked it in the input window) which I could correct before submitting my log. I think I’ll wait a bit more before sending in the logs to see if any other inconsistencies pop up.

I also posted on 2 or 3 mailing lists (reflectors) and received a pretty substantial number of personal responses from folks offering their congrats on a respectable score for my first contest.  Folks also offered excellent suggestions for some questions I posed. The biggest question was around my call sign. A bunch of folks came back to me as K2DS and not K2DSL. I came to found that when using certain logging software, it checks from a list of known contesters which I’m not in yet. So it showed me as not in the list but K2DS was. I think there’s a couple instances where I might have gotten logged as K2DS. The recommendation from the experts was to keep putting my call sign out there until the operator comes back with the right call sign. THEN I should should send my report. Some times I sent just K2DSL K2DSL … and then my report.  Live and learn.

Also on these lists, there is lots of talk about optimizing your macros and sending things efficiently. Sometimes it is discussed to the point of obsessive, but for me, it is all a learning experience so whatever I can take away from it, I’ll be able to use in future contests.

After the contest, I’ve probably spent 3+ hours cleaning up the data, tagging the records with the appropriate grid locations, uploading to eQSL and LOTW, discussing the contest via email, etc. Still all worthwhile!

73, K2DSL