[LCC] Contest Branch Report

[Mark Ketchell]

The debut Rookie Roundup on April 18 had mixed results. From a
technological standpoint, it was a complete failure. The Getscores site was
not functional for the event, and there was a lot of confusion on how to
submit logs as a result. As a stop-gap, we were able to accept score
summaries via email for two days. We received 65 Rookie logs and QSO info
from 26 non-rookies. These numbers seem low, but there are other numbers
that indicate a lot of interest; there were over 225 stations that
registered to use the online scoring system. Had it been working correctly,
we would have certainly seen more submitted logs. In addition, the Rookie
Roundup blog received almost 5,000 hits in the four days before the event.

In terms of impact, I think we have a solid winner with the event. The
bands had a remarkable amount of activity, and several "Big Guns" reported
having "Rookie Runs" on 20m during the event. Nearly all of the stations
that submitted a log said they had a great time despite the technical
issues and looked forward to doing it again. The majority of non-rookies
that submitted QSO data are supportive of the event as well.

An official post-contest analysis will occur this week, when Ward Silver,
NØAX visits HQ.

Work continues on the Contest area of the web site. The big project now is
to transfer all the archived contest results data. I am developing
architecture for that this week and hope to begin uploading results data
shortly.

The author, WS7I, has provided results articles for the 2010 RTTY Roundup.

Plaques have been ordered for the 2009 June VHF QSO Party. Certificates for
the event will be processed shortly. Next on the agenda is the 2009 IARU HF
Championships.

73,

Sean Kutzko, KX9X
Contest Branch Manager

ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio(tm)
225 Main St.
Newington, CT  06111
860-594-0232
skutzko at arrl.org