[CQ-Contest] FQP logs, the new robot and Cabrillo

[Robert Chudek - K0RC]

Logging mobiles using the /CTY designator may appear to work fine during the 
contest, but there are consequences of this logging technique "down the 
road".

The major hurdle is when uploading your log to LoTW. A mobile operator may 
visit 20 or 30 counties during a QSO Party. He would need 20 or 30 
certificates to upload his log to the system. (Imagine if this was a MARAC 
operator... he would need 3,077 certificates to manage and renew.) On the 
other hand, if he chooses to upload his contacts as KØRC/M for example, he 
only needs one certificate and can use the Station Location feature of tQSL 
to identify the individual counties that were visited.

I use N1MM and it accepts either the /CTY or the /M method of logging and 
still keeps the scoring accurate. The dupe feature also works. You only need 
to put the county abbreviation into the correct logging field instead of 
appending it to the callsign.

If you logged using the /CTY method, there is a software program that will 
make the corrections to your log. The utility by AD1C will process QSO Party 
logs and strip off the /CTY designators and replace them with the /M. In 
addition, it uses the /CTY information to determine the proper ADIF tags for 
state and county identity used when importing to other logging software.

Whether you use the /CTY or the /M method of logging, you will want to use 
AD1C's program to automatically capture the location information before 
importing your contest log. You will find Jim's program here: 
http://software.ad1c.us/ADIF_County/index.htm

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Haavisto" <kamham69 at gmail.com>
To: "David Levine" <david at levinecentral.com>
Cc: <fcg at kkn.net>; <K1to at aol.com>; <FCG-P at yahoogroups.com>; 
<cq-contest at contesting.com>; <fqp at kkn.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] FQP logs, the new robot and Cabrillo


> One things that works, and has become widely used, is to log as follows:
> W1XX/CTY
>
> ie - put the county name at the end of the stations call.  This way,
> dupes and scoring work correctly.  If you already worked the station,
> you can work them a second time with the /county at the end of their
> call.
>
> I don't do this for fixed stations, but once I realize they are a
> mobile, rover, or for some reason are in a different county that I
> have logged previously, the above works fine.
>
> Tom - VE3CX
>
>
>
>> Another suggestion for future consistency is to explicitly list on the 
>> web
>> site how mobile stations should send there exchange and what the contest
>> logger expects. I think ARRL contests call them rovers and use /R as what
>> should be logged. Maybe that is just how the ARRL does it. From what I 
>> got
>> as feedback here, /P and /M should also work. Some of the preferences 
>> might
>> be around how various logging programs handle mobiles in a QSO party. 
>> N1MM
>> as an example doesn't allow (though you can force but scoring is off), 
>> AB1CD
>> on its own in multiple counties. You can use AB1CD/P or AB1CD/M, etc. But
>> maybe if there was some consistency it would be helpful. Also, it's not
>> always obvious on the first exchange with a mobile/rover/portable station
>> that they are indeed going to be setup in multiple counties unless the
>> assumption is if they call CQ using AB1CD/xxxx that they are.
>>
>> 73,
>> K2DSL - David
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