Sure, it's a cardinal rule, but 5 years in the computer world is almost an
eternity. The new band designators have been around since 2000. That means
that there have been 5 years of backwards compatibility. I'd say that more
than fulfills any best faith effort of retaining backward compatibility.
One heartening thing about this thread.... I never realized there were so
many hams who would understand what fsck meant, judging by the comments
about awk and similar.
de W6SN/Jason
On Sun, Jan 29, 2006 at 12:42:20PM -0800, KA6AMD wrote:
> From: "KA6AMD" <ka6amd@earthlink.net>
> To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
> Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 12:42:20 -0800
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2527
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL Contest Robot and 903 mhz Q's
>
> One of the cardinal rules of the computer world is that new implementations
> should be backwards compatible with older versions. Part of the Cabrillo
> spec is the "START-OF-LOG: version number" line. The software the ARRL uses
> should look at the version number and decode the submitted log properly. As
> long as it complies with one of the official version numbers, the robot
> should read it. I think the ARRL should look at their robot and fix it to
> work correctly with the version number.
>
> Erich, KA6AMD
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David" <ke4yyd@gtcom.net>
> To: "Ned Stearns" <aa7a@cox.net>; <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 9:46 AM
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL Contest Robot and 903 mhz Q's
>
>
> > Thanks Ned, but it just isn't worth the trouble. I have been a faithful
> > VHF contester having only missed one ARRL contest in over a decade. I
> > almost stopped contesting when the Cabrillo requirements came out since I
> > didn't have a computer. After getting a computer and struggling many
> > hours
> > to learn how to submit the scores via the VHF-DX program, I just don't
> > feel
> > like having to play musical chairs with ARRL again. They need to keep it
> > simple or they have lost another contester.
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Ned Stearns" <aa7a@cox.net>
> > To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
> > Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 12:34 PM
> > Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL Contest Robot and 903 mhz Q's
> >
> >
> >> David, maybe others...
> >>
> >> VHF-DX V 4.1.56 was released in 1999.
> >>
> >> Cabrillo format was amended in 2000 to include VHF bands and subsequently
> >> in 2002 and 2004 (altered "name" of 902 MHz band). Look at the history
> >> of
> >> changes of Cabrillo log formats:
> >>
> >> http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/updates.txt
> >>
> >> These changes were made to permit submission of logs electronically for
> >> VHF
> >> contests and not just HF contests. I can't find any subsequent updates to
> >> VHF-DX on the net, so any changes in the Cabrillo format will probably
> >> cause
> >> the users of software release prior to 2002 to be required to amend
> >> their
> >> Cabrillo files with a text editor (as I have done that numerous times,
> >> BTW)
> >> to get past the robot.
> >>
> >> My recommendation is to try to use a logging program that has an author
> >> or
> >> author team that is keeping their software up-to-date. Contest rules keep
> >> changing. Contests always being added and then, every once in a while,
> >> Cabrillo formats change to permit additional functionality for electronic
> >> log submissions.
> >>
> >> Personally, I use N1MM. There is a huge and dedicated team that is
> >> keeping
> >> the program current on all contest. It is updated as many as ten times a
> >> month (sometimes right after a contest to permit correct generation of
> >> Cabrillo logs). Your mileage may vary.
> >>
> >> 73,
> >>
> >> Ned Stearns
> >> AA7A
> >> ARRL Vice Director Southwestern Division
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "David" <ke4yyd@gtcom.net>
> >> To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
> >> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 2:11 PM
> >> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL Contest Robot and 903 mhz Q's
> >>
> >>
> >>> If the VHF-DX program doesn't work anymore then I will not send in any
> >>> more
> >>> logs. I learned how to use it, is simple and I see no reason why the
> >>> ARRL needs to change their program so it doesn't work.
> >>>
> >>> David Hinton
> >>> KE4YYD, EL79rv
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: "Robert Cumming" <w2bzy@cfl.rr.com>
> >>> To: "Steve Gilmore" <shg@staffnet.com>; <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
> >>> Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 11:46 PM
> >>> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] ARRL Contest Robot and 903 mhz Q's
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Steve et al.
> >>>>
> >>>> As it did to you, 'the ARRL contest robot gave me fits this time.
> >>>>
> >>>> Not having broke 100 Q's I did a quick check of my log , hit the
> >>>> convert to Cabrillo format in my logging program *(VHF-DX V 4.1.56)
> >>>> and sent it off to the league by e-mail. Soon after came the first
> >>>> bounce. All My Q's were bounced for not one but two reasons. First
> >>>> looking at the error messages and the screren version of the log (not
> >>>> Cabrillo0 the line numbers didn't line up with the Q's in my log so I
> >>>> looked at the Cabrillo text file and found that the line numbers
> >>>> included the header (station info and Soapbox).
> >>>>
> >>>> After sorting that out I compared the Q's with the cabrillo data and
> >>>> the error messages - ie QSO B = Invalid band Spec "B" a quick look
> >>>> at my last Jan (2005)VHF test log - the frequencies looked ok and
> >>>> they matched my submissions up to and including the June,05 and Sept
> >>>> 05 tests - not a reject.
> >>>>
> >>>> Also all my q's were rejected as In valid date and time - it stated
> >>>> the contest period as 1900Z on 2006-10-22 through 0359 on
> >>>> 2006-01-23. SXtrange was that the time in the log fell within this
> >>>> time
> >>>> slot.
> >>>>
> >>>> Figuring that the robot was acting weird - I resent the log as it
> >>>> stood and went to bed.
> >>>>
> >>>> The next AM My e-mail had another reject message from the robot
> >>>> Listing invalid Band Specification (A, B, C, D, 9, E, and F) - Well
> >>>> ok - the robot took the info in this format last contest - what
> >>>> happened?
> >>>>
> >>>> Went to the ARRL website and searched on Cabrillo format and came up
> >>>> with the http://www.kkn.net/~trey/cabrillo/
> >>>> site - ok the spec called for the frequency not A, B, C etc.
> >>>>
> >>>> When did this happen the robot digested my log ok last time with
> >>>> letters.
> >>>>
> >>>> In the history section it stated:
> >>>>
> >>>> "
> >>>> 2002-08-03 Letter codes for VHF bands depricated. Only number
> >>>> codes should be used.
> >>>>
> >>>> Well ok nice of them to let us know - why did they take the letter
> >>>> designation for so long after the change -nice of them to let us know.
> >>>>
> >>>> I went back and manually edited the Text file to convert the "Letter"
> >>>> designation to the Frequency (thank God for my word Processor's Find
> >>>> and replace feature).
> >>>>
> >>>> Resent and only my 903m 1296 and 2304 Q's bounced this time - checked
> >>>> and found they wanted 902, 1.2 and 2.3.
> >>>>
> >>>> Re edited and resubmitted ok this time.
> >>>>
> >>>> Boy, Never have so many labored so long and so hard to accomplish so
> >>>> little = 91 Q's for 5976 points.
> >>>>
> >>>> And they wonder why some hams don't submit their logs!
> >>>>
> >>>> Looks like time to invest in a new logging program as the "Cabrillo
> >>>> output of VHF-DX no longer matches the Required format
> >>>>
> >>>> VRY 73
> >>>>
> >>>> Bob Cumming
> >>>> W2BZY
> >>>> QRV 50-2304 this time ( didn't get the antennas up for 3456 and 10G
> >>>> this go round)
> >>>> From EL98hr
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> At 10:08 PM 1/25/2006, Steve Gilmore wrote:
> >>>>>Hello all,
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Just a quick post I submitted my log to the ARRL for the January VHF
> >>>>>Sweepstakes and it threw out all the 903 Q's
> >>>>>
> >>>>>They were listed in Cabrillo as 903 so maybe they changed something.
> >>>>>This
> >>>>>was the decoding from the logging package
> >>>>>
> >>>>>So it appears something is amiss here.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>For those who send in logs pay attention to this ...
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Just a note to see if anyone else has had the same issue.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Steve Gilmore - W4SHG
> >>>>>
> >>>>>_______________________________________________
> >>>>>VHFcontesting mailing list
> >>>>>VHFcontesting@contesting.com
> >>>>>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> VHFcontesting mailing list
> >>>> VHFcontesting@contesting.com
> >>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> VHFcontesting mailing list
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> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> VHFcontesting mailing list
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> >> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
> >>
> >
> >
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---end quoted text---
--
Jason Legate (W6SN)
Sys Admin/Network Admin/Support - East Bay POS
Key Fingerprint: 4FB4 2228 DE63 3BBA 7B72 40DD 13D5 2547 821D 2909
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