[TOEC] TR 6.59 Cabrillo wrong in SAC again

Jan-Eric Rehn - SM3CER - 7S3A jan-eric.rehn at telia.com
Thu Nov 20 21:18:24 EST 2003


Somehow the text formatting got screwed up in Eudora and the templates made
no sense.
I'm now sending the mail from MS Outlook Express and I hope it will be
correct this time.
Sorry for the bandwidth...


Hello Tree, Brett, Ingo, Joergen and all other TR-lovers,

I'm also one of the TR-lovers...

However, I don't understand what's wrong with the SAC Cabrillo format.

I am one of the "bodgers", maybe the one that have been working the hardest
to use the Cabrillo standard for SAC. I only wish I knew what "bodger"
means. I have looked in a couple of dictionaries, but couldn't find that
word. I really hope it means I'm a nice guy... :-)

Tree, N6TR writes:
"Well, the first issue I have is that the SAC is not listed on the Cabrillo
spec web page - therefore it isn't really correct to say there is a Cabrillo
standard for the SAC contest".

and Brett, VE2BG writes:
"If it isn't defined at http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/ then it's
something else - JARTS has Jabrillo, SAC has Scandarillo..."
I like that "Scandarillo" word, but I don't think it's well meant. You're a
funny guy, Brett... :-)

Let's look what the "Cabrillo Standard Summary Sheet Proposal V2.0" says:

Please have a look at the "Summary sheet spec" at:
http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/spec.html

I have copied parts of the contents:

- - - - - - - - - -
CATEGORY: operator-category band-category power-category [mode-category]
The mode-category must be CW, SSB or MIXED and is only relevant for single
operator entries in multi-mode contests that permit single mode entries such
as IARU-HF and the 10 Meter Contest.

CONTEST: contest-name
The contest-name must be one of the following: AP-SPRINT, ARRL-10, ARRL-160,
ARRL-DX-CW, ARRL-DX-SSB, ARRL-SS-CW, ARRL-SS-SSB, ARRL-UHF-AUG,
ARRL-VHF-JAN, ARRL-VHF-JUN, ARRL-VHF-SEP, ARRL-RTTY, BARTG-RTTY, CQ-160-CW,
CQ-160-SSB CQ-WPX-CW, CQ-WPX-RTTY, CQ-WPX-SSB, CQ-VHF, CQ-WW-CW, CQ-WW-RTTY,
CQ-WW-SSB, DARC-WAEDC-CW, DARC-WAEDC-RTTY, DARC-WAEDC-SSB, IARU-HF, JIDX-CW,
JIDX-SSB, NAQP-CW, NAQP-RTTY, NAQP-SSB, NA-SPRINT-CW, NA-SPRINT-SSB, NEQP,
OCEANIA-DX-CW, OCEANIA-DX-SSB, RSGB-IOTA, SAC-CW, SAC-SSB, STEW-PERRY or
TARA-RTTY.
- - - - - - - - - -

As SAC-CW and SAC-SSB are two different contests the "CW" and "SSB" are not
relevant in "CATEGORY:" for SAC, as you can read in the specifications for
the category.

The 4th and 3rd contest name from the end of the list of contests are SAC-CW
and SAC-SSB.

In my opinion that means SAC is listed "on the Cabrillo spec web page".

The Cabrillo QSO template SAC is using is EXACTLY THE SAME AS for "other
ARRL and CQ contests, Stew Perry contest, Oceania DX Contest & AP Sprint".
Is THAT the problem - that SAC is not mentioned in that header???
If it is, I'll ask Trey to add SAC in that header as well.

Please have a look at the "Cabrillo QSO templates" at:
http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/qso-template.html

- - - - - - - - - -
Cabrillo QSO template for other ARRL and CQ contests, Stew Perry contest,
Oceania DX Contest & AP Sprint

                              --------info sent------- -------info
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn
****** n
QSO:  3799 PH 1999-03-06 0711 HC8N          59  700    W1AW          59  CT
0
0000000001111111111222222222233333333334444444444555555555566666666667777777
77788
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
78901
- - - - - - - - - -

Please also have a look at "The SAC CABRILLO format page" in the SAC rules
at:
http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/saccabr.htm

- - - - - - - - - -
SAC Cabrillo QSO Template:

                              --------info sent------- -------info
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn
****** *
QSO: 14000 CW 2003-09-20 1748 7S3A          599      1 4K6GF         599
116 0
0000000001111111111222222222233333333334444444444555555555566666666667777777
77788
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
78901
- - - - - - - - - -

I can't see any differences (other than the QSO info of course).
Well, it's a * instead of n under the letter t in position 81, but I don't
think that's so important.

Here's how the Cabrillo log looks like made with POST version 6.60 and
earlier (I used my own CW log from SAC 2000):

START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CREATED-BY: TR Log POST Version 6.60
CALLSIGN: 7S3A
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CW
CLAIMED-SCORE: 239200
CLUB: TOEC - Top Of Europe Contesters
NAME: Jan-Eric Rehn
ADDRESS: Lisatået 18
ADDRESS: SE-863 32 SUNDSBRUK
ADDRESS: SWEDEN
OPERATORS: SM3CER
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A                     YO8DHD        599 599
1
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1202 7S3A                     EA4BQ         599 599
2
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A                     S55A          599 599
19
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A                     H2E           599 599
9
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1214 7S3A                     SP7FGA        599 599
1
.......

The problem is that there is no header "CONTEST:". There are no sent serial
numbers and the sent RST is in the wrong place.

If we put one QSO row into the template it looks like this:

                              --------info sent------- -------info
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn
****** *
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A                     YO8DHD        599 599
1
0000000001111111111222222222233333333334444444444555555555566666666667777777
77788
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
78901

A Cabrillo log made by POST version 6.60 and earlier is therefore not
useable in the SAC Log Checking Program.

And here the same log.dat is used in POST version 6.61 and later:

START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CREATED-BY: TR Log POST Version 6.61
CALLSIGN: 7S3A
CONTEST: SAC
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CW
CLAIMED-SCORE: 239200
CLUB: TOEC - Top Of Europe Contesters
NAME: Jan-Eric Rehn
ADDRESS: Lisatået 18
ADDRESS: SE-863 32 SUNDSBRUK
ADDRESS: SWEDEN
OPERATORS: SM3CER
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A          599      1 YO8DHD        599 1
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A          599      1 YO8DHD        599 1
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1202 7S3A          599      2 EA4BQ         599 2
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A          599      3 S55A          599 19
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A          599      4 H2E           599 9
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1214 7S3A          599      5 SP7FGA        599 1
.......

If we put the same QSO row into the template it looks like this:

                              --------info sent------- -------info
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn
****** *
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A          599      1 YO8DHD        599 1
0000000001111111111222222222233333333334444444444555555555566666666667777777
77788
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
78901

In this Cabrillo log we can see that the QSO info are all there and in the
correct positions. We also find "CONTEST: SAC" and "CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL
LOW CW" in the Cabrillo header. Of course it would have been better if the
Cabrillo standard was used, so the info had been: "CONTEST: SAC-CW" and
"CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW".

We can live with that "error", as I'm also involved with writing the SAC Log
Checking Program together with the "programmer" SM2EZT. We can see to it,
that a log with only "CONTEST: SAC" will be read by the program and also
that "CW" or "SSB" at the end of "CATEGORY:" will be ignored. However, it
would have been better if we could separate the logs with SAC-CW or SAC-SSB
in the "CONTEST:" header, instead of looking in the "CATEGORY:" header or
look in the QSO rows at the date or the mode.

A Cabrillo log made by POST version 6.61 and after is therefore OK and
useable in the SAC Log Checking Program.

Now I have three questions:


1. What is wrong with the SAC Cabrillo specifications?

2. If they are wrong - can someone please guide me, so they will be correct?

3. As you, Brett, got your logs accepted, what are your real complaints?


Last - I visited the TR Web Site: http://www.qth.com/tr/ and found the
following very generous free offer:

Click on "Free Download" in the menu on the left side and you will come to
the page at: http://www.qth.com/tr/free.html

There you can read:

Download POST Version 6.72a. This is a free version of the TR LOG
post-contest log processor, that supports the new Cabrillo log format, and
may be useful for those with older versions of TR LOG (30 December 2002):
http://www.qth.com/tr/post672a.zip

It can also be downloaded at: http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/files/post672a.zip

With that free POST program a Cabrillo log for SAC will be OK and maybe OK
for many more contests as well...

73 de Jan

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--------------------oOOo-(_)-oOOo--------------------
Jan-Eric Rehn - SM3CER - Contest call 7S3A
SSA Contest Manager - SWEDEN
E-mail sm3cer at contesting.com - ICQ 11074897
SM3CER Contest Service http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/
SK3BG Web Site http://www.sk3bg.se/
Also QRV in MS or MM from SI9AM - SK3IK - SL3ZV
K6U at WRTC-96 / Referee at WRTC-2000 and WRTC-2002
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