[NLRS] RE: robot problems? (fwd)

[Chris Cox, N0UK]

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 jcplatt1 at mmm.com wrote:

> So help an old Dog out ..... what is the "old" system, and what is the
> "new" system.     This could be a problem for us using "older" logging
> software with hundreds of Q's in the file.

The old form was recording the band using the designators as seen in 
activity reports:-
A=50, B=144, C=222, D=432, 9=902, E=1296, and so on.

That is also the designator used when outputting a Cabrillo format log by 
some loggin software, including the popular, but now unsupported, VHF-DX 
logging program.

In 2002, the league initiated a change away from using those single letter 
designators due to apparently some confusion.  Dan cited that some people 
used E for 902 and instead of 9, and so all higher bands were then offset 
by one letter incorrectly.  That change in policy was recorded in the 
Cabrillo format change history web page which is reachable from the 
contest section on arrl.org, however, I do not remember seeing it pulished 
anywhere.

Evidently, from January 2006 onwards, the older labelling system is no 
longer supported, which it was up through September 2005's contest.

So, if your logging program records the VHF/UHF/microwave bands using the 
older letter designator, you will need to manually adit your log prior to 
submission to use the new numeric designator.

As the Cabrillo format relies on rigid columnar position for each field, 
you will need to be careful to correctly pad the entry with spaces.  The 
band field is a 5 character-wide column.  In the older letter version, the 
letter was left-justified, whereas the numeric designator is right 
justified.

So, if your log entry looks like this:-

QSO: I     PH 2006-01-21 1925 N0UK              EN34   WB0LJC            EN34 
QSO: I     PH 2006-01-21 1921 N0UK              EN34   W0ZQ/R            EN34 
QSO: B     PH 2006-01-21 1931 N0UK              EN34   WA2VOI            EN35

you would need to change it to:-
QSO:    10 PH 2006-01-21 1925 N0UK              EN34   WB0LJC            EN34 
QSO:    10 PH 2006-01-21 1921 N0UK              EN34   W0ZQ/R            EN34 
QSO:   144 FM 2006-01-21 1931 N0UK              EN34   WA2VOI            EN35

For your reference, here are the new band designators:-
For VHF/UHF; numeric band representations as follows: 50 MHz=50,
144 MHz=144, 222 MHz=222, 432 MHz=432, 902 MHz=902, 1296 MHz=1.2,
2304 MHz=2.3, 3456 MHz=3.4, 5760 MHz=5.7, 10 GHz=10, 24 GHz=24,
47 GHz=47, 75 GHz=75, 119 GHz=119, 142 GHz=142, 241 GHz=241,
and 300 GHz=300.

Note, the old LIGHT designator for a laser contact is presumably replaced 
by 300.
 -- 
73  Chris Cox, N0UK  email: chrisc at chris.org or Alice at BritishCarAndDriver.Com

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