[TRLog] a "smarter" INITIAL EXCHANGE feature

[Tim Totten, N4GN]

On Mon, 17 Dec 2001, Pete Smith wrote:

> I started with the TRMAASTER file only being used for calls, but then
> turned on Initial Exchange = Sections in order to be able to see a lot
> of US and VE stations' QTHs.

I'm giving away one of my little secrets now, but here's what I do:

USER INFO SHOWN = CUSTOM
CUSTOM USER STRING = SECTION QTH
INITIAL EXCHANGE = QTH

That way, if I have a "QTH" in my TRMASTER.DTA, that's set up as the
initial exchange.  But if I only have a "section" in the database, that
info shows up right under the call sign.  If both match, that gives me
even more confidence.  If there's a discrepancy (e.g., I had KO7X's QTH
still as UT, but his section correctly as NC), I'm at least alerted in
advance what the two most likely choices are going to be.

I did get slightly tripped up this year when I worked ZF2NT and one or two
other DX stns where I had "ZF" or "LU" as the QTH in TRMASTER.DTA.  As
someone else mentioned, TR Log doesn't seem to accept an exchange like "ZF
1234" in this contest.  You have to delete the initial exchange.

Ideally, it would be nice if there was a way under POST UEFF to let only
W/VE QTHs into TRMASTER.DTA.  As it is, for ARRL 10 and similar contests,
I parse the log into W/VE-only and non-W/VE before running them through
POST UEFF.  Obviously, I must have forgotten to do this in the last NAQP
or something, resulting in ZF2NT having a QTH of "ZF".

73,

Tim Totten, n4gn@n4gn.com
http://www.n4gn.com


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