I'd like to ask the opinion of the NA users on a subject which might seem
trivial, but might ease some confusion.
The question is the file name of the Cabrillo file which NA writes
post-contest. Originally, this was an "ARRL-Format" file, and they
specified that the filename had to be CALLSIGN.LOG, where CALLSIGN is the
callsign used in the contest. This has a fundamental problem in that any
callsign with a slash in it is not a legal DOS filename. Also, its not hard
for a portable callsign to exceed the eight character limit for a DOS
filename. You would not believe how much grief this caused K9TM and I in
checking the logs from the Ten Meter Contest.
The other, more subtle problem is that all of your Cabrillo logs will have
the same filename, which makes them hard to track without renaming them.
Also, if you sit down and generate, say, your logs from ARRL DX CW and SSB
in one sitting, your CALLSIGN.LOG file (there will be only one, unless you
rename it) will contain the last file generated. And again, this can get
confusing when you're working in your browser and trying to attach the file
to an e-mail for submission.
Would anybody feel strongly against calling the Cabrillo file something like
FILENAME.CAB? You would have to rename it for submission as CALLSIGN.LOG,
but at least you'd have unique files for each contest. The .CAB extention
might be a little more easily recognizable too.
73,
Dave Pruett, K8CC
DATOM Engineering
datom@contesting.com
http://www.contesting.com/datom
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