[Trlog] TR 6.59 Cabrillo wrong in SAC

[Jan-Eric Rehn - SM3CER <jan-eric.rehn@telia.com>]

Hello Tree, Brett, Ingo, Joergen and all other TR-lovers,

I'm also one of the TR-lovers...

However, I don't understand what's wrong with the SAC Cabrillo format.

I am one of the "bodgers", maybe the one that have been working the hardest 
to use the Cabrillo standard for SAC. I only wish I knew what "bodger" 
means. I have looked in a couple of dictionaries, but couldn't find that 
word. I really hope it means I'm a nice guy... :-)

Tree, N6TR writes:
"Well, the first issue I have is that the SAC is not listed on the Cabrillo 
spec web page - therefore it isn't really correct to say there is a 
Cabrillo standard for the SAC contest".

and Brett, VE2BG writes:
"If it isn't defined at http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/ then it's 
something else - JARTS has Jabrillo, SAC has Scandarillo..."
I like that "Scandarillo" word, but I don't think it's well meant. You're a 
funny guy, Brett... :-)

Let's look what the "Cabrillo Standard Summary Sheet Proposal V2.0" says:

Please have a look at the "Summary sheet spec" at:
http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/spec.html

I have copied parts of the contents:

- - - - - - - - - -
CATEGORY: operator-category band-category power-category [mode-category]
The mode-category must be CW, SSB or MIXED and is only relevant for single 
operator entries in multi-mode contests that permit single mode entries 
such as IARU-HF and the 10 Meter Contest.

CONTEST: contest-name
The contest-name must be one of the following: AP-SPRINT, ARRL-10, 
ARRL-160, ARRL-DX-CW, ARRL-DX-SSB, ARRL-SS-CW, ARRL-SS-SSB, ARRL-UHF-AUG, 
ARRL-VHF-JAN, ARRL-VHF-JUN, ARRL-VHF-SEP, ARRL-RTTY, BARTG-RTTY, CQ-160-CW, 
CQ-160-SSB CQ-WPX-CW, CQ-WPX-RTTY, CQ-WPX-SSB, CQ-VHF, CQ-WW-CW, 
CQ-WW-RTTY, CQ-WW-SSB, DARC-WAEDC-CW, DARC-WAEDC-RTTY, DARC-WAEDC-SSB, 
IARU-HF, JIDX-CW, JIDX-SSB, NAQP-CW, NAQP-RTTY, NAQP-SSB, NA-SPRINT-CW, 
NA-SPRINT-SSB, NEQP, OCEANIA-DX-CW, OCEANIA-DX-SSB, RSGB-IOTA, SAC-CW, 
SAC-SSB, STEW-PERRY or TARA-RTTY.
- - - - - - - - - -

As SAC-CW and SAC-SSB are two different contests the "CW" and "SSB" are not 
relevant in "CATEGORY:" for SAC, as you can read in the specifications for 
the category.

The 4th and 3rd contest name from the end of the list of contests are 
SAC-CW and SAC-SSB.

In my opinion that means SAC is listed "on the Cabrillo spec web page".

The Cabrillo QSO template SAC is using is EXACTLY THE SAME AS for "other 
ARRL and CQ contests, Stew Perry contest, Oceania DX Contest & AP Sprint".
Is THAT the problem - that SAC is not mentioned in that header???
If it is, I'll ask Trey to add SAC in that header as well.

Please have a look at the "Cabrillo QSO templates" at:
http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/qso-template.html

- - - - - - - - - -
Cabrillo QSO template for other ARRL and CQ contests, Stew Perry contest, 
Oceania DX Contest & AP Sprint

                              --------info sent------- -------info 
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst 
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn 
****** n
QSO:  3799 PH 1999-03-06 0711 
HC8N          59  700    W1AW          59  CT     0
000000000111111111122222222223333333333444444444455555555556666666666777777777788
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901
- - - - - - - - - -

Please also have a look at "The SAC CABRILLO format page" in the SAC rules at:
http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/saccabr.htm

- - - - - - - - - -
SAC Cabrillo QSO Template:

                              --------info sent------- -------info 
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst 
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn 
****** *
QSO: 14000 CW 2003-09-20 1748 7S3A          599      1 
4K6GF         599    116 0
000000000111111111122222222223333333333444444444455555555556666666666777777777788
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901
- - - - - - - - - -

I can't see any differences (other than the QSO info of course).
Well, it's a * instead of n under the letter t in position 81, but I don't 
think that's so important.

Here's how the Cabrillo log looks like made with POST version 6.60 and 
earlier (I used my own CW log from SAC 2000):

START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CREATED-BY: TR Log POST Version 6.60
CALLSIGN: 7S3A
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CW
CLAIMED-SCORE: 239200
CLUB: TOEC - Top Of Europe Contesters
NAME: Jan-Eric Rehn
ADDRESS: Lisatået 18
ADDRESS: SE-863 32 SUNDSBRUK
ADDRESS: SWEDEN
OPERATORS: SM3CER
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A                     YO8DHD        599 599 1
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1202 7S3A                     EA4BQ         599 599 2
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A                     S55A          599 599 19
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A                     H2E           599 599 9
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1214 7S3A                     SP7FGA        599 599 1
.......

The problem is that there is no header "CONTEST:". There are no sent serial 
numbers and the sent RST is in the wrong place.

If we put one QSO row into the template it looks like this:

                              --------info sent------- -------info 
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst 
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn 
****** *
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A                     YO8DHD        599 599 1
000000000111111111122222222223333333333444444444455555555556666666666777777777788
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901

A Cabrillo log made by POST version 6.60 and earlier is therefore not 
useable in the SAC Log Checking Program.

And here the same log.dat is used in POST version 6.61 and later:

START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CREATED-BY: TR Log POST Version 6.61
CALLSIGN: 7S3A
CONTEST: SAC
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CW
CLAIMED-SCORE: 239200
CLUB: TOEC - Top Of Europe Contesters
NAME: Jan-Eric Rehn
ADDRESS: Lisatået 18
ADDRESS: SE-863 32 SUNDSBRUK
ADDRESS: SWEDEN
OPERATORS: SM3CER
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A          599      1 YO8DHD        599 1
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1202 7S3A          599      2 EA4BQ         599 2
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A          599      3 S55A          599 19
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1213 7S3A          599      4 H2E           599 9
QSO: 21000 CW 2000-09-16 1214 7S3A          599      5 SP7FGA        599 1
.......

If we put the same QSO row into the template it looks like this:

                              --------info sent------- -------info 
rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst 
exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn 
****** *
QSO: 28000 CW 2000-09-16 1201 7S3A          599      1 YO8DHD        599 1
000000000111111111122222222223333333333444444444455555555556666666666777777777788
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901

In this Cabrillo log we can see that the QSO info are all there and in the 
correct positions. We also find "CONTEST: SAC" and "CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL 
LOW CW" in the Cabrillo header. Of course it would have been better if the 
Cabrillo standard was used, so the info had been: "CONTEST: SAC-CW" and 
"CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW".

We can live with that "error", as I'm also involved with writing the SAC 
Log Checking Program together with the "programmer" SM2EZT. We can see to 
it, that a log with only "CONTEST: SAC" will be read by the program and 
also that "CW" or "SSB" at the end of "CATEGORY:" will be ignored. However, 
it would have been better if we could separate the logs with SAC-CW or 
SAC-SSB in the "CONTEST:" header, instead of looking in the "CATEGORY:" 
header or look in the QSO rows at the date or the mode.

A Cabrillo log made by POST version 6.61 and after is therefore OK and 
useable in the SAC Log Checking Program.

Now I have three questions:


1. What is wrong with the SAC Cabrillo specifications?

2. If they are wrong - can someone please guide me, so they will be correct?

3. As you, Brett, got your logs accepted, what are your real complaints?


Last - I visited the TR Web Site: http://www.qth.com/tr/ and found the 
following very generous free offer:

Click on "Free Download" in the menu on the left side and you will come to 
the page at: http://www.qth.com/tr/free.html

There you can read:

Download POST Version 6.72a. This is a free version of the TR LOG 
post-contest log processor, that supports the new Cabrillo log format, and 
may be useful for those with older versions of TR LOG (30 December 2002):
http://www.qth.com/tr/post672a.zip

It can also be downloaded at: http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/files/post672a.zip

With that free POST program a Cabrillo log for SAC will be OK and maybe OK 
for many more contests as well...

73 de Jan

                       \\\|///
                     \\  ~ ~  //
                      (  @ @  )
--------------------oOOo-(_)-oOOo--------------------
Jan-Eric Rehn - SM3CER - Contest call: 7S3A
SSA Contest Manager - SWEDEN
E-mail: <mailto:sm3cer@contesting.com>sm3cer@contesting.com - ICQ: 11074897
SM3CER Contest Service: 
<http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/>http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/
SK3BG Web Site: <http://www.sk3bg.se/>http://www.sk3bg.se/
Also QRV in MS or MM from: SI9AM - SK3IK - SL3ZV
K6U at WRTC-96 / Referee at WRTC-2000 and WRTC-2002
------------------------------Oooo-------------------
                   oooO      (   )
                   (   )      ) /
                   \  (

_______________________________________________
Trlog mailing list
Trlog@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/trlog