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Re: [VHFcontesting] LOTW & VHF

To: vhf contesting <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] LOTW & VHF
From: Peter Laws <plaws@plaws.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 21:36:18 -0500
List-post: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com">mailto:vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
On Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 2:44 PM, Marshall-K5QE <k5qe@k5qe.com> wrote:
> Hello to all....here is just another reason why LOTW is such a poor system.
> IF I send in a log with contacts in EM31, EM21, EM20, and EM10, every line
> of that log will have the correct grid already in it.  So there is NO reason
> for me to have to tell TQSL(whatever that is) what grid I was in.  The logs

You have to sign your log to verify that you are the person that sent
it.  TQSL signs the whole log.  Since you can only sign a whole log,
not individual QSOs, you can only have a single callsign certificate
and a single location as part of the signature.  So yes, if you had
QSOs from 10 locations in different grids, you'd have to sign and
upload 10 times.  DXLab automates that for the most part.


> Most serious rovers will not even fool with it.

Bet they will.

I also found out that there is a feature in DXLab that will take GPS
output and calculate grid loc as you move so that each QSO will have
the correct QTH without mucking with it.


> Someone asked why VHFers won't use LOTW....this is just ONE of many reasons.
> ONCE, but never again, our QSL manager, Joey-W5TFW, tried to enter the K5N
> DXpedition contacts into LOTW.  It turned into a nightmare.  Stupid LOTW put
> every contact into the same grid....never mind the grid actually shown in

I'm sorry your manager tried it once and failed.  As noted, one
location per log, not per QSO.  It's possible to upload the QSO again
if you realize that you  set the wrong location when you signed a log.



> IF you are in love with this incredibly badly designed and executed system,
> then nothing I can say will change you mind.  You can't talk sense to heroin
> addicts or cigarette smokers either.

Well, unlike those two, LOTW is not fatal.  I know of no LOTW users
who are in love with the system.  I'm not.  But it's become
demonstrably easier to use in just the last year (10 years in!!) and
while I miss the cards, I appreciate not having to spend >$1.25 per
QSO to collect awards.


I could get that QSL cost down to $0.47/QSO if everyone would just
send postcards ...


-- 
Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!
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