[Wswss] [VHF] Uploading logs to LOTW for every grid I have activated...

Wed Apr 25 16:53:22 EDT 2012

David,

Thanks for the kind words.. but... I beg you to reconsider....

If your using modern logging software, editing down a ROVER
cabillo log to a single grid, signing it with the correct call/station
location and uploading it is fairly simple, just time consuming.

Creating all the station locations in advance takes a bit of time
and planning but only needs to be done once... not every upload...

Its those rare rover and portable locations people NEED BADLY
for FFMA and it is to support FFMA that I am going to this extent
to upload all my logs going back to when rover loging wasnt as
simple as it is now.

Its a way of giving back to the community as Im sure some ROVER
out there has givent you a rare grid or two in the past....

As to the certificate... I sign all my Portable and ROVER logs as
K7XC, NOT K7XC/R... If everyone uses that format and removes
all "/R's" from their cabrillo log before they upload it all is good.

In otherwords, in the log you upload to LOTW of people that you
have worked, make sure everyone you worked as /R has the /R
removed from their call in the file you upload.

K7XC/R requires a seperate certificate and that would just make the
confusion factor ramp up to a point of absurdity...

so to be clear... I sign all my logs from home, portable and rover as
K7XC... to make sure your log matches mine remove the /R if the
contact was during a contest that I was rover in, or it will not match
up.

Now if I was sending K7XC/KH6 then that is a different matter and
a new certificate is required as I am now a new DXCC country...

73 de Tim - K7XC - DM09nm... sk

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David DeVos" <kf8ql at yahoo.com>
To: "Tim Marek" <K7XC at charter.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 20:33
Subject: Re: [VHF] Uploading logs to LOTW for every grid I have activated...

Tim,

You are inspiring. I decided not to upload rover files, but only my files 
from
home. I can't imagine a bigger pain in the butt than LOTW. It could be a 
cool
thing, but NO!
Dave KF8QL/R
http://www.davedevos.com

----- Original Message ----
From: Tim Marek <K7XC at charter.net>
To: VHF REFLECTOR <vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu>
Cc: nccc at contesting.com; wswss at mailman.qth.net; PNWVHFS at googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, April 25, 2012 4:21:28 PM
Subject: [VHF] Uploading logs to LOTW for every grid I have activated...

SUCCESS!!!!!!! The First Rover/Portable Log Is Uploaded! (Logs for K7XC - 
DN00
are in LOTW as I craft this message)

I have a goal of uploading to "Log Book Of The World" (LOTW) ALL of my 
QSO's...
EVER. Trust me when I say it sounds simpler than it really is...

It took almost two years of typing from old paper logs, digging thru floppy
disks, hard drive directories, backup CD's, thumb drives, etc... converting
various formats of log, text, & excell files, etc... but pretty much all of 
my
stateside HF QSO's are now signed & uploaded to LOTW. From now on its a much
simpler matter of uploading new contacts on a regular basis (and after each
contest) as N1MM makes that task very easy.

Next was getting all of my home grid (DM09) VHF+ contacts gathered up,
converted, signed and uploaded and until this morning I thought DM09 was
current... While going thru the many papers stored within my 3 large steel 
Navy
Surplus file cabinets, prepairing to move later this summer, I found several
hand written pages of 6M contacts from 2007/2008 yet to key in. But... the 
key
point is DM09 is essentially current... like HF...

All that remains are the dreaded 20 plus years of "ROVER" and "PORTABLE" 
logs
to go thru. Starting last spring I have slowly been working my way thru the
master VHF+ logfile (over 65,000 Q's). Its not in a modern program/format 
that
would make the process easy... Nooooo.... Its has all been gathered from all
manner of sources into one LARGE spreadsheet.

>From that Master file I have been manually sorting data, parsing it into 
each
grid operated from, creating new copies of the data with the correct grid as
part of the file name, then manually editing it down to only that grids 
data,
making a master file for that grid, and then parsing each grid into files 
based
on the call used, until I am left with a excell file per call/grid that now
needs to be converted into a cabrillo file that can be signed and uploaded. 
Why
Cabrillo you ask? I understand Cabrillo, while ADIF files are pure greek to 
me.

Yes its a detail driven pain in the butt! But I would rather get all this 
done
correctly and uploaded to LOTW otherwise what was the point of activating 
those
rare grids (other than being a huge advantage in a VHF contest).

All that remains now is creating all those Cabrillo files, signing them
correctly and uploading to LOTW... Compared to the journey so far that 
hopefully
will be a bit more straight forward.... (Crosses Fingers)

Well.... Today... I finally magaged to figure out the right combination of
Cabrillo header / data format that LOTW would accept, allowing me to sign 
the
file! Finally, after all this effort spanning many years... literally back 
to
1987 when I first began computer logging, the log will be complete and in a
place others can make use of it for awards, and no longer requires me to 
hand
write any more blasted QSL cards!!! That alone will save me weeks of my life 
for
more suitable pursuits... like making more Q's!

Even with the correctly formated Cabrillo file It is still like walking a
"mental mine field" of making sure you have (1) the right grid, with (2) the
right call, and then sign it with the (3)correct callsign & (4) LOTW station
locaton... After sifting, sorting, manipulating, combining, & editing over a
hundred different files it can still get very confusing very fast... so, I 
plod
along very slow and methodical and today finally solved the last bit of the
puzzle...

So, if you have worked me in the past from any of over the 80+ grids I have 
been
in, pay attention to your LOTW VUCC totals as hopefully in the next week or 
two
I hope to have "ALL of the Qs" from "ALL the Grids" that I have activated 
over
the years, finally uploaded to LOTW.

I love LOTW and what it offers once the data is uploaded but at times 
throughout
this whole process I kept thinking there has got to be a better way... Sadly 
for
alot of what I was dealing with... there isnt.... I do think thought that 
with
everyone now using established standards to upload contest logs it only 
makes
sense that the LOTW system in time be upgraded to where it can all my itself
parse out the grids a ROVER has been active in and place them in the correct
grid all by itself...

LOTW has Grown up some and the days of "manually sorting a log file into
different grid locations BEFORE uploading" should draw to a close in time... 
I
can see no reason why it cant be so other than it not being a priority for 
LOTW
to write the code to make it happen...

73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09nm... sk
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