[ct-user] CQP and latest Ver CT ( DOS ) - Busted ???

Bob Wilson, N6TV n6tv at arrl.net
Mon Oct 8 00:41:26 EDT 2007


If like me you used CT or CTWin in the California QSO Party, and plan to use
the free KA5WSS LogConv 1.73b program to create a Cabrillo file from the BIN
file (because CT doesn't create a complete Cabrillo for CQP), you need to be
aware of the following problem:

Some of your QSOs may be logged on the wrong band in the Cabrillo file.

This can be corrected, but it takes some doing.

Assuming you have rig Control set up, CT will correctly log stations on each
band.  But if you ever logged a station on the wrong band, and pressed
Alt-F1 or Alt-F2 to correct the band after logging the QSO, that information
will be saved OK in the BIN file, in the "Band" field, but CT never updates
the "Frequency" field, the field that LogConv uses to create your Cabrillo
file.  This is bad news.

To see these QSOs, get the Bin-to-Res and Res-to-Bin programs (
http://www.k1ea.com/download/b2r9.zip, http://www.k1ea.com/download/r2b9.zip)
and unzip them into your CT directory.

>From a DOS command prompt (On Windows:  Start, Programs, Accessories,
Command Prompt), change to the CT directory, then run:

   B2R9 Logfile

to convert Logfile.BIN to a readable format (Logfile.RES).

View Logfile.RES with a text editor (e.g., WRITE filename.res).  You may
find some QSO records like this:

   07-Oct-07 0425  1027  80 CW   N6KI          599  SDIE  7039840  7039980
00    0 49 0 0

Note that the band (80CW, which matches what CT displays for band), doesn't
agree with the Frequency of VFO A (7039.84).  LogConv outputs this incorrect
Freq (7039) to the CBR file for this 80m QSO, so it is as if you logged the
QSO on the wrong band.

For all QSOs where band and Freq disagree, carefully change the frequency
(not the band), so that they match:

   07-Oct-07 0425  1027  80 CW   N6KI          599  SDIE  3545840  3535980
00    0 49 0 0

Then run

   R2B9 Logfile

to update the existing logfile.BIN file with the new data from the edited
logfile.RES.  Both files must be present in the directory when you run
R2B9.  This program doesn't create a BIN file from scratch; it updates the
QSO records in the existing BIN file, and leaves the header information
alone.  It saves the original BIN file as Logfile.OLD.

Finally, run LogConv on the updated Logfile.BIN to create your Cabrillo
file.  Don't forget to change the "????     ????" string in the QSO records
to your County or State.  You can ignore the weird Cabrillo header since the
advanced CQP web site ignores it completely (the CQP Web site prompts you
for what it really needs).

Finally, upload the edited CQP Cabrillo file via http://logs.cqp.org/ for
real-time checking.

Yes, you could just edit the Cabrillo file directly, but then when you run
CT2ADIF to create your ADIF file for Logbook of the World or other software,
the ADIF file will have the wrong frequencies too.  So get the freq. fixed
in the BIN file and then use it to create everything else.

73,
Bob, N6TV


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