Ron,

Hey, thanks for the information, and the personal attack - I haven't gotten that kind of rise out of anyone since I since last year, when I was censored at your Logan mountain-survival contest for using the U word ;-).

Lets see: The zipped file size for March 16 was 655KB, which represents about 10-15 seconds at normal DSL rates (500-1000Kbs upload speed). With un-mangled files, the upload, done once per day, would have taken about 3 times longer, or about 45 seconds. Stop me when I go off track here, but I fail to see the advantage of saving 30 seconds (or even 3 minutes)/day while rendering ALL the files essentially useless for analysis.

The Seniors stopped using satellite-based internet connectivity several years ago, but we still have problems with slow connections there when everyone tries to get on at once. Many of us have started using the Ubiquitous (another U word!) USB cell modems - my Verizon USB modem cost me all of $50 for 1GB data with DSL-or-better upload/download rates. However, even on bad days at the Seniors, I'm not really sure how the difference between 15 seconds and 45 seconds of upload time on a once/day basis would be significant.

The scoring at this year's Seniors was done by Florin Alexandrescu. This post was not, and is not, any reflection on the superb job he did, especially for a first-time scorer. It is, however, a call to stop compressing IGC files to the point of unusability in an attempt to save an insignificant amount of internet upload time. I would be more than happy to use my own USB modem bandwidth for this purpose at any contest I attend - just ask ;-).

Frank (TA)



There is a parameter in WINSCORE that allows the scorer, when up loading IGC files, to compress them and to specify the minimum time between fixes.

The scorer can re-upload if they so desire, have a better internet connection and have the time. Last time I was at Seminole "ubiquitous high-speed" access was not available, rather they only have satellite based internet access. Many rural areas do not have the same access to the internet as you city folks.

You are jumping to conclusions and implicating hard working volunteers. There is not deliberate conspiracy issues occurring here. Take off your tainted, rose colored glasses and try to understand reality and stop beating on the volunteers that make competitions happen.

Ron Gleason