[Dxbase] LOTW import problems

[Michael Tope]

In the course of trying to import my LOTW confirmation statistics into 
DXbase 2007, I've run into several problems. The first problem was that 
the ADIF report created by the ARRL's LOTW website identified "SSB" qsos 
as "PHONE" qsos. When I tried to import these QSOs in Dxbase, they were 
turned into "DIGITAL" mode contacts. This was relatively easy to fix 
using the "replace" function in Microsoft Notepad (I replaced 
"<mode:5>phone" with "<mode:3>SSB" before importing the ADIF file into 
Dxbase).

The 2nd problem I encountered when trying to import LOTW data was that 
in some cases the Dxbase IMPORT program created a duplicate QSO instead 
of just updating the database "CFM" field from "No" to  "LOTW". This 
seemed to happen with QSOs from certain contests, but I couldn't discern 
a particular characteristic of the log data that was predictive for this 
outcome. One thing I did notice was that for a given segment of W4EF.mdb 
log data that was unique to a particular contest, the Dxbase import 
program either correctly annotated the "CFM" field for all the QSOs 
where LOTW confirmations occurred, or it created a duplicate contact 
with the "CFM" field set to "LOTW" for all the QSOs where LOTW 
confirmations occurred. There was never a mixture of the two outcomes 
within a segment of my W4EF.mdb log file that was unique to a given 
contest. The log data that produced duplicate QSOs instead of just a 
change in the "CFM" flag was from the following contests:

Feb 2011 CW Sprint
Jan 2011 NAQP CW
2010 CQ WW CW
2010 ARRL SS Phone
Sept 2010 CW Sprint
August 2010 NAQP CW

Numerous other contests (including prior runnings of the contests listed 
above)  going back as far as 1997 did not show duplicate contacts when I 
loaded the LOTW ADIF. Any idea why this happens?

Thanks,

Mike W4EF...........