[Ham-Mac] Shortfall to Manual QSO Logging

[Bob Nielsen]

On Oct 31, 2006, at 6:07 AM, Lon Kinley wrote:

>>
>> I have found and responded to all but a few of the recent QSL cards.
>> Figuring out the year is usually easy but the month and date can  
>> be a real
>> challenge.  One has printed text for Month/Date/Year with some  
>> some graphic
>> symbols below each that defy logic.  It is a good thing he had an  
>> easy to
>> read printed email address on the card so I could request  
>> clarification on
>> the date.  I have one that says 04.03.05 and his call in not in my  
>> log for
>> March, April or May over 2003, 2004 or 20054.  The call may be in  
>> one of my
>> computer based contest.log files but they are not summed together  
>> for an
>> easy search.
>> Off the soapbox.
>>
>> What do you do with bureau QSL cards that you cannot find in your  
>> log?
>
> Throw them in a box to deal with at some point in the future.

I have one of those boxes.  The pile keeps getting bigger!

>
> As for the date format, I was  taught it should be 31 OCT 2006,  
> with the month in the middle using the common, three-letter  
> abbreviation, not numbers. This way there is no confusion.
>

I agree.  This is the way that the rest of the world does it and we  
should adapt (don't even ask me about metric).

For my computer logs, I store them all in a separate directory and  
use the grep command from a terminal "grep <call> *" to search.  It's  
often handy to have these unix tools available in OS X.

I have computerized the paper logs back to 2000 when I changed  
callsigns so I could input them into LOTW, but still have 48 years of  
paper logs to deal with.  Fortunately I don't get many cards for  
those days anymore.

73 - Bob, N7XY