[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] Logging between various software programs

[David Olean]

So I sent in my 222 & Up log to LOTW. It was exported from N1MM as an 
adif file. I checked and got an immediate match with VA3IKE for his 49th 
grid on 432. Ike was very keen to get that contact logged in LOTW. It 
was a new state on 432 as well as  grid #49.  The MODE I saw on LOTW was 
SSB. We actually used Q65B-30 but I changed it to SSB.  I am not sure 
what mode VA3IKE used.  I also got a note from K1TEO, who claims to have 
also sent his log in. He had a match for only one contact with me on 
SSB.  He had an FT8 contact with me on 432 and I called it SSB. Jeff had 
RY and there was no match. Strangely, I checked for K1TEO just now and 
came up with NO MATCH!!  What a mess.  Jeff gets a match for our 222 
contact but I do not.

I wish I had paid attention to this stuff before. I just assumed that 
everything was fine with the world.

I will pursue this further.

Dave K1WHS

On 8/7/2023 3:24 PM, Bob Bownes wrote:
> Would it make sense to ask the ARRL to establish a 'standard' for this 
> sort of thing as we do for internet standards (IETF) or telecom (ITU), 
> even if it is a 'compliance is not mandatory' kind of thing?
> Easy to see an extension to digital modes, codecs, etc.
>
> Bob, who has participated/written too many standards in his day
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 7, 2023 at 2:29 PM David Olean <k1whs at metrocast.net> wrote:
>
>     I have had all sorts of problems with logging software and contest
>     entry
>     software that processes logs.  Maybe I missed it, but It is hard
>     to find
>     documentation that gets down and dirty to tell us what responses are
>     allowed in each block where data is entered.  In this past contest I
>     used N1MM to log for the 222 and Up contest, and it allows certain
>     entries for MODE. My regular logging program is VQ-Log and it has
>     various modes allowed.  When you make an ADIF file to submit to
>     the ARRL
>     LOTW, those choices may be incompatibile.  The ADIF format allows only
>
>     SSB
>     CW
>     RTTY
>     TOR=AMTOR
>     PKT
>     AM
>     FM
>     SSTV
>     ATV
>     PAC=PACTOR
>     CLO=CLOVER
>
>     N1MM recognizes CW, USB, LSB, SSB, AM, FM,SSTV, RTTY, PSK31, PSK63,
>     PSK125, PSK250,  DIGITAL, FT8 and FT4.
>
>     Note that many of the modes allowed by N1MM are not listed in the
>     ADIF
>     specification. This means that any program with the wrong mode
>     might be
>     bounced out of the LOTW log and you are out of luck. The contact is
>     discarded.
>
>     If you supply a Cabrillo file to the ARRL for your contest
>     submission,
>     the modes that are allowed are only
>
>     CW
>     PH
>     FM
>     RY
>     DG
>
>     It gets better. My daily logging software VQ-Log and is primarily
>     aimed
>     at VHF ops. There is a field for propagation type. If you read enough
>     you might find a comment telling you that the propagation mode is not
>     required in ADIF,  but I found out the hard way that only certain
>     prop
>     modes are accepted by the ARRL adif files.  TR means tropo but TRS in
>     VQ-LOg indicates tropo scatter which is a primary means that we
>     VHFers
>     communicate with. I hand copied almost all of my old paper logs and
>     entered the prop mode as TRS and only later found out that all of
>     those
>     submitted files went into the bit bucket in Newington.  So I have
>     to go
>     back and modify all my entries from TRS to TR to make things work.
>     Really, my life is too short to have to deal with these glaring
>     software
>     compatability issues.
>
>     Somewhere, I have an email that delineates all of the prop modes
>     recognized by ARRL LOTW and the adif input file.  I wish it had been
>     published somewhere.
>
>     So I submitted my 222 & Up file to LOTW. Please let me know if you do
>     not get a match. I ended up calling everything either CW or SSB. 
>     There
>     was no real good choice for FT8 or MSK144, or Q65. You would think
>     that
>     maybe DIGI might be a good name for all of these VHF modes, but you
>     would be mistaken.  Your choices are SSB or maybe RTTY. There must be
>     some patches between software to fix some of this, but it sure has
>     gotten me in trouble very often.
>
>     grumble grumble!
>
>     Dave K1WHS
>
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