The QSO Party is over…  and the logs are rolling in.  209 received so far.  If yours isn’t in yet…  what are you waiting for?:)

I want to mention something I wish I didn’t have to…  We have one log which has lost most of its in-state QSOs.  The entrant logged the *city* for his in-state QSOs — not the county.  It appears to me..  that he used QRZ.com to look up the locations of the stations he worked.

(because Dickson is the largest city in Dickson County, he didn’t lose ALL of his in-state QSOs…   Trivia fact: there is no county in Tennessee whose county seat has the same name.  Dickson may be the largest city in Dickson County but it isn’t the county seat.)

Those of you who are new to contesting should know..  that use of online callsign lookups is considered unethical.  It’s also very hazardous to your score.  Hams move around – especially contesters.  If you used QRZ to look up my county during the QSO Party, you would have lost most of your QSOs with me.  I was mobile; only a small fraction of my QSOs were made from my home county.

Most contests would disqualify an entry with this much evidence of online lookup.  Because we have an unusual number of “newbies” who may not know any better, we generally haven’t done that.  These entries tend to disqualify themselves by losing MANY of their QSOs.

Please don’t do it.