Here up in the North (63N) it is very common to have aurora propagations in
HF/VHF/UHF contests. Normally aurora signal report (e.g. 59A) are not used
in HF contests unless the contest is organized by VHF/UHF organizations.
In the last NAC 10m contest (Nordic Activity Contest on 28MHz - similar NAC
contests also on 50MHz, 144MHz, 432MHz, 1296MHz and >=2.3GHz) I got
complains from VHF/UHF contesters for not using aurora signal reports
eventhough the contacts were made via aurora. The blame shall be put on
TRLog as it is not capable of handling aurora signal reports. I had hard
times in logging the received aurora signal reports with Note -function
(CTRL-N) to each QSO as TRLog got stuck if I entered e.g. 55A signal report
to the received exchange field.
I fully understand that it is not a trivial task to convert numeric RST
field something that accepts "normal" CW/SSB signal report with 2/3 digits
or aurora CW/SSB signal report with 2 digits + 1 letter (A). Please note
that it is also quite common to use RST instead of RS in SSB to indicate
aurora propagation! I guess the main problem is how to not mix received
signal report with other received groups as TRLog allows to enter the
received groups in flexible order.
One solution is to implement aurora signal reports only to those exchange
formats that are commonly used in VHF/UHF contests. At least in Finland the
common nominator in VHF/UHF (related) contests is WW locator (grid) i.e. the
exchange contains always RST + grid. Therefore I propose that aurora signal
reports are implemented as a minimum to the following exchange formats:
RST AND GRID
RST AND OR GRID
RST QSO NUMBER AND GRID SQUARE
It would be good if [ (wait for strenght) will accept either a number, a
number and A or just A, which allows the flexible sending of strenght and
aurora tone signal reports in contests i.e. [ = wait for strenght and/or
aurora tone.
By these additions it is much easier to promote TRLog for VHF/UHF contesters
as it fulfils the basic "must" requirements for VHF/UHF contests (at least
in the N-EU region).
73,
Jari OH6QU
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