Another Contesting Question

[WRPL700]

So the other day I heard a guy calling CQ CONTEST (10M) and getting no response so I figured I'd give him a shout (the first time I have done so to CQ Contest). He was coming in pretty strong and he gave me a 5/9 which I understand is pretty much standard. So we exchanged info and then as I was going to move on he said "I need your serial number"  and "I cannot put you in the logbook without a serial number".  Well, I had no idea what he was asking for..... so what serial number was he looking for???  After checking his callsign, he was from Namibia.  I measured on Google Earth and that is 6800 miles to the closest part of Namibia.

 

 

[Socalgmrs]

Did you ask him what serial number he was looking for?   I’d say in this case he would be the best person to ask. 

[WRPL700]

44 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

Did you ask him what serial number he was looking for?   I’d say in this case he would be the best person to ask. 

Well, he was not forthcoming and I did not press.  In retrospect, you are correct.  However, I'd still like to know...

[WSEZ864]

Your contact was looking for a serial number that YOU assign to your contacts during a contest. In your case above, you could have given him any number, but 001 would suffice. 

If I am responding to CQ calls on any given day, I number my contacts starting with 001 and if anyone should ask, I tell them what number I have assigned their QSO.

Typical QSO verification involves:

Call signs

Band/Frequency

Time

Signal reports

Serial numbers

[SteveShannon]

Here are the rules for the 10 meter DX contest. https://contests.arrl.org/ContestRules/10M-Rules.pdf
Yes, a serial number is required and apparently serial numbers are required for some DX contests, but unfortunately I couldn’t find where the term is defined.  It might be as simple as the serial number corresponding to your logbook or to a log of contacts for that particular contest, in which case, since he was your first contact it would have been simply ‘1’. But I don’t really know.

There are FAQs, glossaries, and “Getting Started” articles and none of them (that I could find) define “Serial Numbers” even though they use the term.  I think that’s a stupid oversight.

I have written to the contest director at the ARRL asking for such terms that they take for granted to be added to a glossary that the rules reference.

[WRPL700]

1 hour ago, WSEZ864 said:

Your contact was looking for a serial number that YOU assign to your contacts during a contest. In your case above, you could have given him any number, but 001 would suffice. 

If I am responding to CQ calls on any given day, I number my contacts starting with 001 and if anyone should ask, I tell them what number I have assigned their QSO.

Typical QSO verification involves:

Call signs

Band/Frequency

Time

Signal reports

Serial numbers

Thank you. Good info.

[WRPL700]

2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Here are the rules for the 10 meter DX contest. https://contests.arrl.org/ContestRules/10M-Rules.pdf
Yes, a serial number is required and apparently serial numbers are required for some DX contests, but unfortunately I couldn’t find where the term is defined.  It might be as simple as the serial number corresponding to your logbook or to a log of contacts for that particular contest, in which case, since he was your first contact it would have been simply ‘1’. But I don’t really know.

There are FAQs, glossaries, and “Getting Started” articles and none of them (that I could find) define “Seriall Numbers” even though they use the term.  I think that’s a stupid oversight.

I have written to the contest director at the ARRL asking for such terms that they take for granted to be added to a glossary that the rules reference.

Thanks Steve.  I will download the pdf and read through it.  Good idea to get a definition for serial numbers added, for us newbies.

[SteveShannon]

8 minutes ago, WRPL700 said:

Thanks Steve.  I will download the pdf and read through it.  Good idea to get a definition for serial numbers added, for us newbies.

Yes. I think @WSEZ864 probably nailed it but it should still be defined somewhere easy to find.  

[SteveShannon]

Here it is, from ARRL:

Good morning,

 

The serial number is a sequential number, starting with 1 for your first contact, 2 for your second contact, and so on.  In the case of the 10 Meter contest, stations located in the US, Canada, and Mexico send their state or province abbreviation, not a serial number. 

 

In the ARRL International DX contest, as a US station, you'd be sending a signal report and your state abbreviation. It's customary to just give a 59 (or 599 if CW) as a signal report and then your state. The DX stations will send a signal report and their serial number, when then goes in your log for cross checking (we check to see if you receive the number they sent you correctly by comparing the logs.)

 

I can add that term to the glossary which is located at the end of the contest rules PDF files on the ARRL website.

 

73,

Paul Bourque, N1SFE

Contest Program Manager

[WRUU653]

13 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Here it is, from ARRL:

 

Good morning,

 

The serial number is a sequential number, starting with 1 for your first contact, 2 for your second contact, and so on.  In the case of the 10 Meter contest, stations located in the US, Canada, and Mexico send their state or province abbreviation, not a serial number. 

 

In the ARRL International DX contest, as a US station, you'd be sending a signal report and your state abbreviation. It's customary to just give a 59 (or 599 if CW) as a signal report and then your state. The DX stations will send a signal report and their serial number, when then goes in your log for cross checking (we check to see if you receive the number they sent you correctly by comparing the logs.)

 

I can add that term to the glossary which is located at the end of the contest rules PDF files on the ARRL website.

 

73,

Paul Bourque, N1SFE

Contest Program Manager

So if I have this correct Steve, OP would have responded with “call sign” then 59 and DE.

[SteveShannon]

32 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

So if I have this correct Steve, OP would have responded with “call sign” then 59 and DE.

That’s how I read it also. 

[WRPL700]

1 hour ago, WRUU653 said:

So if I have this correct Steve, OP would have responded with “call sign” then 59 and DE.

Which is exactly the how the comm went.  I think perhaps (after scanning the ARRL pdf page 3 item number 4.3) looks like a "foreign" DX station is sending some kind of serial number.  Perhaps he thought I was in the same boat as he.  But we did exchange callsigns, I sent him a 57 and "Delaware USA" as I normally do with a DX station.

[WRPL700]

Okay, found this definition on the ARRL website: 

Actually, after everything I have read in the ARRL 10M Contest Rules pdf and learned reading other ARRL website stuff, I probably should not have responded to his CQ.  I was not in the contest and so would not have submitted a log to ARRL, which they would have compared to his log. So he would have lost the QSO.  So this rookie has learned a lot today.  Thanks for all the input and help!!!

[SteveShannon]

18 minutes ago, WRPL700 said:

Okay, found this definition on the ARRL website: 

Actually, after everything I have read in the ARRL 10M Contest Rules pdf and learned reading other ARRL website stuff, I probably should not have responded to his CQ.  I was not in the contest and so would not have submitted a log to ARRL, which they would have compared to his log. So he would have lost the QSO.  So this rookie has learned a lot today.  Thanks for all the input and help!!!

Where did you find that on the ARRL website?  I used their search function and found nothing other than mentions.
Thanks!

[WRPL700]

14 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Where did you find that on the ARRL website?  I used their search function and found nothing other than mentions.
Thanks!

Here is the link: https://www.arrl.org/contest-glossary

 

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WRPL700 said:

Here is the link: https://www.arrl.org/contest-glossary

 

Thanks!