[ct-user] Fixing my CQWW Log

[Alan Zack]

I had a problem during the CQWWDX that I need some advise on how to fix.
My main logging PC locked up about 15 minutes after an hourly automatic 
LOG SAVE to a floppy.  I got out the laptop and logged with it for the 
rest of the contest.  Maybe I should have started the second log with a 
blank .BIN file so I could do a post contest merge.  But had I done that 
I would have not been able to detect dupes.

I took the floppy from the locked up PC and transferred the .BIN file on 
it to the CT folder in the laptop and went on contesting.  When the 
contest was over I was able to get the original PC to boot up and work 
again.  I found I had four contacts on the .BIN file on the PC Hard 
drive that were not on the floppy due to being written after the last 
time the log was saved to the floppy.

What I did was to take these missing contacts and added them to the end 
my final log after the contest was over, then using ALT-F, I changed the 
time and date to match when the contacts were actually made.  I had 
thought that by closing CT then restarting it these missing QSO's would 
move to their proper place in the log.  But they did not, they are still 
at the end of the log with their times out of sequence with where they 
belong in the log.  Maybe it has something to do with the contact serial 
numbers, but in the case of the CQWWDX we don't care about serial numbers.

I looked in the manual and the help files but don't see this kind of 
problem discussed.  Has anyone out there successfully inserted missing 
QSO's into an existing log? I'm starting to think I can't do it via the 
logging program and changing the .BIN file but must just edit the final 
log via a word processor before submitting it but that may be a lot of 
work.  Is there a trick by maybe converting the original .BIN file to a 
ADIF file, manually inserting the missing QSO's at the proper place and 
time, then exporting said corrected ADIF file back to the .BIN file?  I 
was smart enough to save the original .BIN file on a separate disc 
before doing any changes.

Hope everyone did well in the contest.  There did not seem to be as much 
participation this year as in previous years.  No big DXpeditions to 
Africa or Pacific Islands, no rare mults being put out, no one even went 
to HC8, CE0Z, T88, etc.  But I was lucky to snag VK9X on two bands.  Too 
bad R1ANF wasn't in zones 29, 39, or 38 instead of the more common zone 
13.  Oh well, there's always next year.  TIA & 73

-- 
Alan Zack
Amateur Radio Station K7ACZ
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Quality Engineer, The Boeing Company, Retired
Aviation Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Coast Guard, Retired