One of the most expensive aspects of operating a contest the size of CQ WW is producing and mailing paper certificates. Participants earn more than 2400 certificates on each CW and SSB. The cost to produce and mail the large size CQ WW certificates is significant. We know that some people enjoy receiving paper certificates and we remain committed to producing them. However, the CQ WW DX Contest provides electronic certificates in pdf format for everyone that submits an entry; a faster and less costly way to deliver certificates to participants.
The World Wide Radio Operator Foundation (WWROF) recently took over the stewardship and administration of the Cabrillo log submission format. At the request of CQWW (and other contests), they have approved a new header tag that will allow participants to opt out of mailed paper certificates. This gives participants a way to tell us if they prefer going with electronic certificates.
CERTIFICATE: YES | NO
Indicate whether or not you wish to receive, if eligible, a paper certificate sent via postal mail. YES is the default.
If you do not want to receive a paper certificate, simply add this line to the header of your Cabrillo file:
CERTIFICATE: NO
If you want to receive a certificate, do not add the line or use CERTIFICATE: YES. We ask logging software authors to support the new tag with their next release.
If your software does not yet support the CERTIFICATE tag, you can easily add it using a text editor before submitting your log.
Complete information about the Cabrillo tags supported by the CQ WW DX Contest can be found at http://www.cqww.com/cabrillo.htm. Information about the Cabrillo standard is available from the WWROF web site at http://wwrof.org/cabrillo/