I have used FLE to create an ADIF file and uploaded to the SOTA database as usual. I want to enter it into the contest but that requires an EDI file. FLE can export in cabrillo format but it doesn’t list the contest in its options. There are a few other ADIF to EDI converters but, again, they don’t seem to support the backpackers contest. Any tips for doing the conversion or do I have to enter it all again?
If the program can’t export what you want then, from experience, it’s nearly always simplest to knock up a bit of Python to add the missing fields to the file. Simple, for assorted definitions of simple, if you are a Python programmer.
I note the Log4OM supports EDI format. You can probably import your SOTA ADIF into Log4OM and export it as EDI but this is just conjecture from reading snippets in Google searches. YMMV.
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Maybe use the online log generator for the Backpackers and just enter a single dummy QSO.
Send it to your email and then update the rest with any notepad/texteditor.
That’s at least how I hope it works!?
Description of the file format here:
But I feel your struggle. Had the same with my first contest. The habit to provide example logs is unfortunately not a thing in the contesting scene.
The general format is clear but how the category for submission/power class and so on are defined is not always clear.
Richard. I ‘phoned a friend’ and it said “FLE cannot export .EDI files directly, but it can export the Cabrillo format. The RSGB robot explicitly accepts Cabrillo logs for VHF contests and handles the background conversion for you”.
Details:
- In FLE, click File > Export Cabrillo.
- A dialog box will pop up. Ensure you type in your Grid Square / Locator (e.g., IO84xx), as VHF contest logs require this to calculate distance points.
- Save the
.LOGor.CBRfile to your computer
BTW: I twice heard you working two 2m SSB stations in the contest that I had also worked. As a contest-novice I was in ‘hunt and pounce’ mode only and I didn’t want to break in on ‘his’ frequency to suggest we QSY then or later.
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The SOTA database can take FLE files directly to save you a couple of clicks 
I think I tried the Cabrillio export for the uW contest last weekend and the log robot wouldn’t read it properly. I only had 16 entries so it was easier for me to just transcribe them.
I learned how to do serial numbers in FLE though so every cloud…
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Not sure it does. I wasn’t able to find this feature.
I couldn’t get this to work as the contest wasn’t listed in its dropdown. It might work with the right runes.
I also upload to Log4OM and POTA so I need ADIF.
My solution was to use N1MM logger. I had to update to the latest version as I haven’t used it in ages. Then download and install the user defined contest files for RSGB VHF contests. Create contest VHF_B4RTTY and then import the ADIF. Then export the EDI. Uploaded to the contest robot and edited the cover sheet fields and it all seems to have worked.
I had one station call me to move up 5 and we worked so I think it is ok if done quickly. I was mostly search and pounce but once I had scanned up and down the band a few times with no new stations to work I called CQ. The first time got me 4 QSOs including 2 SOTA S2S and also my furthest contact. The second time I got just 1 but they all count.
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Perhaps I should have tried that. That’s what I do almost always for SOTA [one freq., call CQ]. I got a bit bored waiting my turn to be heard (with my 5W of SSB) whilst ops worked their way through the QRO stations calling them. So my QSO rate was low with hunt and pounce mode.
There weren’t as many contesters on during the 30-40 minutes when I was QRV. I don’t think it was a limitation of my location or my modest [3-el] Yagi as I had no problem working one ~360km away. Sadly, I could hear no one on CW albeit during my short QRV time either.
I wonder if the first hour in the contest is busier that when we were QRV. I assumed, as with SOTA, many wouldn’t have got up at crack of dawn to be on summit. Or, I wonder, many are not walking up SOTAs but just driving to where the road has a very good VHF take-off so can be QRV very quickly.
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It would be interesting to know. Like you I didn’t aim to be on the summit right at the start as I had to drive 40 minutes and then climb the hill. There are quite a few entries in section 25H which allows operation from a vehicle so they could be operational really quickly. [There are currently 30 uploaded logs split evenly between 5B, 25H and checklog.]
I heard two CQs on CW but neither appeared to be in the contest.