[Dxbase] LoTW caution

[Wes (N7WS) and Linda]

At 12:40 PM 10/3/2004 -0500, FireBrick wrote:
>I've had much more pleasant experience.

Lucky you.

>Now remember....August/September is the BUSIEST qsl submission time.
>Most of the submissions come in during this period so they can receive the
credit in time 
>for the Annual listing.

If you say so.  

>
>And as for your getting the rejects.
>If you submit the same qsl via LoTW and Hardcard, obviously one is a dupe.
>That's why you had the choice of which credits in LoTW to submit.

Yes, if I had bothered to wade through the available credits.  Instead, I
just selected them all.  Unfortunately, that didn't work either.  When I
viewed my application, not all of them had been selected.  Which is why it
would be nice to have this stuff processed in a more timely manner; I could
re-apply and pickup the ones that were omitted before.  Unfortunately, even
though it is clear (as mud) that those I selected have been credited
somehow, I am still "locked out" and prevented from submitting another
application because the first one is still "pending."

>
>One misconception is that LoTW and DXCC are integrated fully.....not yet.
>LoTW is a Linux system, DXCC is still DOS...
>They ARE working to integrate, but the real time submission/credit to
totals modules are 
>coming.

I'm not holding my breath.

While they're tinkering with this I wonder if they will implement a
suggestion that I made to Wayne Mills in an email a couple of months ago
regarding field check submissions.

Quote:

"One last thought.  Since you (ARRL) are fooling around with LoTW, why not
take this further?  My field checker was sitting in front of a notebook
computer entering something into it regarding my application, so it
shouldn't be a big deal to make this system paperless.

It seems rather silly for me to use a computer to generate a file that I
print out on paper for someone to check and sign and then it gets mailed to
you and someone else has to put the same data back into a computer file,
all the while we're arguing about what format it's in.

I should be able to present my QSLs and a file on CD to the checker.  He
can order the file as he sees fit to make his job easier, verify the QSLs,
sign the file and send it directly to your database.  I would prepay using
a credit card just as I did with my dual LoTW/field check application.  The
system should be optional for the applicant, but an incentive would
(should) be a much lower application fee."


Wes  N7WS