I have written “The COOL Sprint” evaluator section of The Evaluator.
I used our data for this month of March 2024 to test and processed according to the sprint rules above in which we hopefully will ALL take part in on Sunday afternoon.
Note the exchanges need to be accurate and logged in the exchange fields otherwise the whole log is ignored and zero points are allocated.
We have practiced this in the past, well a few of us did.
I certainly hope Sunday will show good / better results.
I have now COMPLETED the development of The COOL. It will only be maintaned from now on.
It is done ……
Note : It requires BOTH STATIONS IN QSO to log their QSO on The COOL. If only one station logs, no confirmation check can be done and so the log is ignored in the evaluation process. Taking part in The COOL Sprint does not cater for stations “giving away points”. It requires dedication and support of your fellow radio amateur in QSO ….. As simple as that.
]]>I was asked to make a presentation on RaDAR for the QSO Today virtual Ham Expo in 2021
Futuristic ideas built on RaDAR sport were proposed. We made it possible, like nothing else ever developed.
A friend recently commented,
“I appreciate that you have developed a great COOL logging system, but there are other logging programs, on line and local. Just like other aspects there are horses for courses, so COOL will be great for some but does not mean that we should all adopt it.”
Seems many don’t see that The COOL is a little DIFFERENT.
I wanted to introduce “The COOL Sprint” last year as a permanent fixture in “The blue book” and this was the response :
Eddie,
Thank you for the swift and detailed response.
I raised your suggestion of including the COOL sprint into the SARL Contest Manual with the Contest Committee last night.
The committee’s decision was that SARL w/could place an announcement to its members announcing your contest on a date that you select next year. Discussions as to potential 2025 Blue Book inclusion could occur thereafter.
As far as potential blue book inclusion, the following are the requirements that the committee has set:
Thank you for your interest in promoting on air RA activity.
Regards
Johann
What more can we do to demontrate that The COOL is a valuable tool to enhance amateur radio as we see it today?
]]>The scenario graphically displayed.
Simulated logs entered into The COOL.
This requires ALL participants (and non-participants) to log on The COOL.
On the Evaluator select the contest timeframe.
Request an evaluation of the WHOLE contest by pressing the Submit button.
The logs within the selected timeframe are extracted from the COOL database for evaluation.
The results in table form.
The results in graphical form.
Notes:
All contesters must log their QSO’s accurately, times must be within five minutes of each other.
The exchanges MUST be correcty entered in the exchange fields. RST is not taken into account.
No need to fill in any spreadsheet.
No need to mail anything to a contest administrator.
Everyone is able to use the evaluator.
All logs can be viewed on The COOL.
No log / exchange match – No point.
]]>The Evaluator has been enhanced to cater for this contest evaluation as a test case.
Two test logs entered into The COOL with suitable exchanges.
Note the POWER values to determine above or below the deviding line of 50 Watts. This is how power will be displayed from now on.
The data was entered so that the log check flags are raised as well as the exchange check flags.
The Evaluator has extra options for evaluating a Hamnet contest.
Note still in test phase and some more coding needs to be done to handle areas worked for example.
An example graphical display of the “results”
The “Standard” (Log checking) result and “Advanced” (Log AND exchange checking) example.
Note the effects of the Power multiplier …..
Developments continue ………
]]>Take the SARL Forum for example. On the SARL page there is a view into the titles within the SARL Forum.
That gives more or less an idea of who posted on a particular topic. If you wanted to read the topic, you would need to log in.
With The COOL you would need a PIN associated with your callsign to make a log entry otherwise the detail of every log entered in to the system can be seen by anyone, anytime. It is an OPEN system!
That is the difference.
….. and every day we have a new activity graph. It makes no difference what mode you use or what “community” you belong to, it becomes a temporary storage area from which you can populate any other system.
]]>From WOODY’s COOL Logs one can see where SOTA activity had taken place, what summits, what times, dates and frequencies. This information is LOCKED within private WhatsApp groups.
SOTA activators don’t bother to log on The COOL so direct information is not visible to anyone wishing to join in.
Here too, Woody logged SSB QSO’s, The COOL is not limited to CW only ….. Active radio amateurs can be seen at a glance!
The only station that bothered to upload a confirmation log was Kieth ZS6HI. Kieth has also suggested areas where improvements could be made and were imlemented to everyone’s benefit.
]]>The resistance primarily comes from those, for perhaps a want of a better description, prefer hiding contacts from one another and more often than not, dishing out points for hams making an effort rather than displaying matching qso publicly. In other words, Did ham A, actually qso with ham B? We will never know.
So what do the COOL HAMS take home from all of this ?
They get Transparancy, An opportunity to upload live logs either off their cellphone or PC’s, Scepticism is done away with as results are pure and true, No waiting for organisers to tally up a secret score sheet. ( Yes score sheets are a secret, why? ) Nobody can question QSO’S logged on the COOL, no match no points.
The flipside to a badly thought through system and are quite the opposite.
Easy to cheat
Laborious calculation processors.
You might get a certificate with points added for your efforts, without proof of who made contacts with who. Benefits of the doubt Reign Supreme by contest organisers.
by Mike, ZS6MSW
]]>I somehow find the smartphone to be convenient. Only three required fields, the rest are OPTIONAL!
The “heavy lifting” can be done on a PC like editing and transferring of logs.
One must just hope The COOL doesn’t have a host like the SARL has at sarl.org.za ……..
]]>This artificial intelligence (AI) video brought back some fond memories. They are still applicable!
Outdoor radio, no limit on equipment, rapid deployment amateur radio.
Moving amateur radio
Stand still ….. and listen to the echoes and the perfect timing of nature. Therein lie the sounds of intelligent life …..
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