Hi:
I had originally posted this message on the LoTW reflector. Several hams
suggested that I might that I might also want to post this message on some
other mailing lists so that more would be aware of the problem.
Basic Problem:
People are not completely filling in the "STATION" info in LoTW's TQSL program
thus causing incomplete QSL records.
After noting several of my LoTW QSL confirmations were lacking complete
"Station" info !!! I decided to download my latest "LoTW Report" and do some
analysis of the situation.
I must admit that I was a bit surprised at how bad this problem was.
Of my 356 LoTW QSL's, 30% of them(108) had incomplete "Station Data" making many
of the QSL's useless for Awards other than DXCC !!!
Here is a breakdown of my 108 bad QSL's:
No Grid = 22
No County = 2
No County & Grid = 1
No ITU Zone = 11
No CQ Zone = 3
No ITU & CQ Zones = 56
No Grid & BOTH Zones = 5
No Grid & ITU Zone = 8
Note: I have no means (yet) of checking for missing IOTA data.
So what is the bottom line ???
I don't know, but as far as I can see these type of statistics tend to make LoTW
useless as far as being able to use LoTW QSL's for credit on awards other than
the
ARRL DXCC, WAS and WAC Awards !!!
The ARRL VUCC Award is questionable due to lack of grid info AND the fact the
LoTW
has very little acceptance by the VHF/UHF/SHF community, but that another story
!!!
Use of LoTW for Non-ARRL Awards is also up for grabs. CQ Magazines Awards and
County
Hunters will need some of the missing data. I don't know about US Islands,
Canadian
Islands and IOTA awards. Awards like 10-10, SMIRK and FISTS are not even
supported by
providing a place to enter their #'s in the "Station" info.
I think it is up to LoTW to make sure that the "Submitted Logs" contain all of
the
"Station" information.
This could be accomplished in a number of ways:
1-LoTW could review (electronically) all of the currently received records and
ask
submitter to update his "Station" info (supply ALL info) and resign and
resubmit
their logs.
2-Anyone finding incomplete info on a LoTW QSL could submit a list of the
offending
callsigns to LoTW and LoTW could ask them resign and resubmit their logs or
have
them rejected.
3-LoTW could refuse to accept any NEW submissions lacking complete "Station"
data.
This might cause some of the current "offending" users to take notice and
resign
and resubmit their logs on their own.
4-LoTW could make the importance supplying ALL of the "Station" data better
know in
the setup instructions. I consider it a poorly documented point.
I support LoTW, but I'm starting to see it bogging down in a quagmire.
So far there are less than 6000 Hams worldwide using LoTW at this time, so I
see that
this is the ideal time to make changes.
73
Bob, K1VU
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