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Re: [VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] Logging between various software programs

To: Bob Bownes <bownes@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] Logging between various software programs
From: David Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net>
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2023 16:18:47 -0400
List-post: <mailto:vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
So I sent in my 222 & Up log to LOTW. It was exported from N1MM as an adif file. I checked and got an immediate match with VA3IKE for his 49th grid on 432. Ike was very keen to get that contact logged in LOTW. It was a new state on 432 as well as  grid #49.  The MODE I saw on LOTW was SSB. We actually used Q65B-30 but I changed it to SSB.  I am not sure what mode VA3IKE used.  I also got a note from K1TEO, who claims to have also sent his log in. He had a match for only one contact with me on SSB.  He had an FT8 contact with me on 432 and I called it SSB. Jeff had RY and there was no match. Strangely, I checked for K1TEO just now and came up with NO MATCH!!  What a mess.  Jeff gets a match for our 222 contact but I do not.

I wish I had paid attention to this stuff before. I just assumed that everything was fine with the world.

I will pursue this further.

Dave K1WHS

On 8/7/2023 3:24 PM, Bob Bownes wrote:
Would it make sense to ask the ARRL to establish a 'standard' for this sort of thing as we do for internet standards (IETF) or telecom (ITU), even if it is a 'compliance is not mandatory' kind of thing?
Easy to see an extension to digital modes, codecs, etc.

Bob, who has participated/written too many standards in his day


On Mon, Aug 7, 2023 at 2:29 PM David Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net> wrote:

    I have had all sorts of problems with logging software and contest
    entry
    software that processes logs.  Maybe I missed it, but It is hard
    to find
    documentation that gets down and dirty to tell us what responses are
    allowed in each block where data is entered.  In this past contest I
    used N1MM to log for the 222 and Up contest, and it allows certain
    entries for MODE. My regular logging program is VQ-Log and it has
    various modes allowed.  When you make an ADIF file to submit to
    the ARRL
    LOTW, those choices may be incompatibile.  The ADIF format allows only

    SSB
    CW
    RTTY
    TOR=AMTOR
    PKT
    AM
    FM
    SSTV
    ATV
    PAC=PACTOR
    CLO=CLOVER

    N1MM recognizes CW, USB, LSB, SSB, AM, FM,SSTV, RTTY, PSK31, PSK63,
    PSK125, PSK250,  DIGITAL, FT8 and FT4.

    Note that many of the modes allowed by N1MM are not listed in the
    ADIF
    specification. This means that any program with the wrong mode
    might be
    bounced out of the LOTW log and you are out of luck. The contact is
    discarded.

    If you supply a Cabrillo file to the ARRL for your contest
    submission,
    the modes that are allowed are only

    CW
    PH
    FM
    RY
    DG

    It gets better. My daily logging software VQ-Log and is primarily
    aimed
    at VHF ops. There is a field for propagation type. If you read enough
    you might find a comment telling you that the propagation mode is not
    required in ADIF,  but I found out the hard way that only certain
    prop
    modes are accepted by the ARRL adif files.  TR means tropo but TRS in
    VQ-LOg indicates tropo scatter which is a primary means that we
    VHFers
    communicate with. I hand copied almost all of my old paper logs and
    entered the prop mode as TRS and only later found out that all of
    those
    submitted files went into the bit bucket in Newington.  So I have
    to go
    back and modify all my entries from TRS to TR to make things work.
    Really, my life is too short to have to deal with these glaring
    software
    compatability issues.

    Somewhere, I have an email that delineates all of the prop modes
    recognized by ARRL LOTW and the adif input file.  I wish it had been
    published somewhere.

    So I submitted my 222 & Up file to LOTW. Please let me know if you do
    not get a match. I ended up calling everything either CW or SSB. 
    There
    was no real good choice for FT8 or MSK144, or Q65. You would think
    that
    maybe DIGI might be a good name for all of these VHF modes, but you
    would be mistaken.  Your choices are SSB or maybe RTTY. There must be
    some patches between software to fix some of this, but it sure has
    gotten me in trouble very often.

    grumble grumble!

    Dave K1WHS

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