[WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO

Mon Oct 5 01:48:57 EDT 2015

Hi Randy,

I hope you didn't misunderstand my position in my earlier email. I think the 
X-QSO feature is a great thing in WL.  Just this weekend, during the CQP 
event, I logged 6 stations that were desperate to get in the log of a AK 
station for their WAS award.  I logged each of these QSOs in my WL CQP log 
file even though none of them were in CA and could not give me the correct 
exchange info for a valid contact.  We exchanged RST and then I marked the 
record as unclaimed in my log with X-QSO.

Post contest I created the Cabrillo file, which did not contain any of these 
QSOs, and a adi file for importing into my general logger.  The adi file did 
contains all six unclaimed contacts and I uploaded the log to LOTW this 
evening.  One of the stations emailed me back thanking me for working him in 
the contest despite the fact he was not in the contest and was anxious to 
get in the log of an AK station for his WAS.

I do not worry about a X-QSO call submitting a contest log and getting a NIL 
from the robot.  The reason he was designated as unclaimed in the first 
place is because we did not complete a valid exchange.  Something was 
missing from one or both ends that prevented the QSO from being a valid 
contest exchange.  Whether or not the other party submits a contest log to 
the sponsor is immaterial in my opinion.  For purposes of contest scoring 
our QSO did not happen.  For other award credit perhaps the minimum was met. 
If not even this could be completed then I don't log the call at all.

73,
Gary AL9A

-----Original Message----- 
From: Randy Thompson K5ZD
Sent: October 04, 2015 8:10 PM
To: writelog at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO

The WL behavior is exactly what you would expect a logging program to do. 
The X-QSO concept was invented after WL had been designed this way.  Since 
only CQ WW and WPX support X-QSO, it is not surprising that the software 
developers haven't spent a lot of time on it.

X-QSO was intended to handle what should be a very rare event... a 
participant wanting to mark a QSO they made as not counting for their score. 
Before X-QSO, the only choice was to completely remove the QSO from the log.

Using a text editor to touch the log is not a difficult thing.

Randy, K5ZD

> -----Original Message-----
> From: WriteLog [mailto:writelog-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Gary
> AL9A
> Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 10:35 PM
> To: writelog at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO
>
> Ok, let me make the waters even murkier!  When you mark an entry in
> WriteLog as unclaimed it shows a little x in the log record.  Any
> unclaimed entries are not exported to the Cabrillo file, BUT they are
> exported to a adi file!
> I often do this when I'm called by someone who is not a contester and I
> cannot get the necessary contest exchange from him.  This usually happens
> on CW or RTTY.  On SSB I can take the time to walk him through what I
> need.
> Unfortunately, on CW or RTTY asking for NR?, QTH?, SEC?, OR ST? often
> goes unanswered.  But, we did exchange RST numbers so it is a valid non-
> contest QSO.
>
> When this happens I mark the entry as unclaimed so it doesn't go into the
> Cabrillo report.  However, when I export the log to a adi file and then
> import that file into my general logger, the unclaimed entry will be
> imported.  Then if the guy sends me a QSL card, or uploads to either LOTW
> or eQSL I have a matching record for him and he will get his AK contact
> confirmed.
>
> If I don't log the call at all I will often get a long email from the guy
> desperate to get AK on whatever band or mode we worked on, insisting that
> we did work on the date, time and mode in question.  Much easier to log
> him so he doesn't count for the contest, but does get into the log for
> QSL purposes.
>
> 73,
> Gary AL9A
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kostas SV1DPI
> Sent: October 02, 2015 12:46 PM
> To: writelog at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO
>
> I was surprised when I read that writelog removes the marked as
> unclaimed qsos. I was believing not. When you are single entry, you want
> to see your score, mults, etc in your band only. A trick would be to
> mark possible other qsos as unclaimed. Or at least this was what I would
> do. During the last rtty contest, while I was in mult station I found
> 2-3 friends who were not mults and I couldn't work. I worked them to say
> hello and give them the mult and marked the qso as unclaimed. Now I can
> see that I made a mistake and I have given a NIL to them! Ok it is my
> fault that I didn't checked the log before I submit but do you think it
> is normal? I mean to remove completely the QSOs?
>
> 73 Kostas SV1DPI
>
> On 2/10/2015 11:11 μμ, Randy Thompson K5ZD wrote:
> > I was informed that my answer was not clear.
> >
> > Only the QSOs you make on the single band you are entering will impact
> > your
> > score.  Anything you log on other bands is not used in calculating your
> > final score for the contest.
> >
> > Randy K5zd
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: WriteLog [mailto:writelog-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> >> Randy Thompson K5ZD
> >> Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 2:29 PM
> >> To: 'Robert W5AJ'; WriteLog at contesting.com
> >> Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO
> >>
> >> If you enter a single band category, only the QSOs on that band will
> be
> >> counted for your score.  The CQ WW rules do require single band
> entrants
> >> to include all other QSOs made during the contest (on other bands) to
> >> help with the checking.  When you don't send those, the station you
> >> worked gets a Not-In-Log.
> >>
> >> Randy
> >>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Robert W5AJ [mailto:woodr90 at gmail.com]
> >>> Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 2:16 PM
> >>> To: k5zd at charter.net; WriteLog at contesting.com
> >>> Subject: RE: [WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO
> >>>
> >>> Thanks Randy
> >>>
> >>> On a Single Band entry = for example 40 meter SB but station worked
> >>> other bands to pass out QSOs & included in log
> >>>
> >>> Will the log checking software ignore a busted QSO as far as points
> on
> >>> another band and only "Grade" the SB entry on band entered??
> >>>
> >>> 73 Robert W5AJ
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Randy Thompson K5ZD [mailto:k5zd at charter.net]
> >>> Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 6:10 AM
> >>> To: 'Robert W5AJ' <woodr90 at gmail.com>; WriteLog at contesting.com
> >>> Subject: RE: [WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO
> >>>
> >>> WriteLog does not support marking QSOs with X-QSO.  If you mark the
> >>> QSO within WL it is removed from the Cabrillo log completely.
> >>>
> >>> The way to do it is by using a text editor.  Add "X-" to the
> beginning
> >>> of QSO lines that you do not want to count.  The log checking
> software
> >>> for CQWW and CQWPX will not count the QSO for you, but will give
> >>> credit to the other station.
> >>>
> >>> Since you are trying to not claim the last QSO in your log, is it
> >>> because the QSO was made after the contest?  In that case, you may
> >>> simply want to remove it since it will not count for your score
> anyway.
> >>>
> >>> Randy, K5ZD
> >>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: WriteLog [mailto:writelog-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> >>>> Robert W5AJ
> >>>> Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 5:30 AM
> >>>> To: WriteLog at contesting.com
> >>>> Subject: [WriteLog] Cabrillo File & Unclaimed QSO
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> I checked the Cabrillo web page for Cabrillo file version 3.0
> >>>> http://wwrof.org/cabrillo/cabrillo-specification-v3/
> >>>>
> >>>> it notes that if one has a QSO in the log that want "Unclaimed"
> >>>> toward score that QSO is marked with "X"
> >>>>
> >>>> I test marked the last QSO in my log as unclaimed in writelog
> >>>>
> >>>> exported to Cabrillo
> >>>> that QSO is not in the Cabrillo file which would then show as NIL to
> >>>> that station if I submitted that Cabrillo which isn't fair to that
> >>> station...
> >>>> work around??
> >>>>
> >>>> However,
> >>>> rereading the specification, the specification says any qso line
> >>>> marked with "X" is ignored by the log checking software, which then
> >>>> again the other station gets a NIL??
> >>>>
> >>>> 73 Robert W5AJ
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> WriteLog mailing list
> >>>> WriteLog at contesting.com
> >>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/writelog
> >>>> WriteLog on the web:  http://www.writelog.com/
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >
>
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