Hi all
Tired to read out off topic here Answering CQ SOTA Twice I create this one for people debating on THIS subject ! Now you can explain why uploading or not your log in any software and other site 
73 Ćric F5JKK
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I always upload to LOTW also with the correct locator for each summit. No big deal and costs me less than a minute. eQSL is complete rubbish in my opinion, but I upload there too to do others a favour. Also upload to HRDlog automatically.
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Once our activator logs have been uploaded to the SOTA database, they have all the information LOTW needs for the accurate precise information (callsign, locator, state, DXCC entity, etc) they are not having when activators like me, for instance, donāt bother uploading to their site the same thing we have already uploaded to the SOTA database.
My question is: in case some of the LOTW programmers write a piece of software to automatically retrieve the data from the SOTA database convert it accordingly for their system and copying it to the LOTW database, would the SOTA MT ever give their OK for LOTW doing something like that?
Are there any problems for LOTW and/or SOTA for creating and implementing a tool for such process?
Cheers,
Guru
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Do not know what the plans are, but one possibility would be to add SOTA box to TQSL application. It has already CQ and ITU zone numbers, country, IOTA reference and county that you can select from a list.
73, Jaakko oh7bf/ac1bb
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Neither LotW nor eQSL handle operating from multiple locations gracefully(*). LotWās approach is a bit clunky, but not too hard to work with, but eQSLās approach (if you try to do everything correctly) is, frankly, bonkers.
Once Iāve put my log into something from which I can export an ADIF, uploading to LotW isnāt all that complicated, though each activation has to go in by itself as LotW requires a single location to be associated with all the QSOs in an upload. I may need to create a new location if the summitās not one Iāve already got in my location list in TQSL. I do my best to put all my QSOs (with the exception of my very occasional /M ones) into LotW as accurately as I can.
To do eQSL to the same degree of accuracy I first have to create an associated account for each activation. This contains the location and start and end dates and times. Once they are created I can upload the QSOs for all the activations in a single upload (assuming theyāre all under the same callsign). Iāve a lot of sympathy with folks who keep just one account per callsign (with a nominal but inexact location) and put the real location specifics into the comment field (or just refer to the SOTA database (see Answering CQ SOTA Twice - #43 by EA2IF for an example), because the āone account per location and time windowā business results in hideous numbers of accounts. I expect I have not uploaded all my activations into eQSL, though I think most of them are there.
(*) It would be so, so, so much easier if theyād both just make proper use of ADIF fields like MY_GRIDSQUARE, MY_STATE, MY_IOTA, and even MY_SOTA_REF, and dispense with the clunky location handling, but they donāt, and thereās no obvious sign that they ever will, so I guess weāre stuck with the clunkinessā¦
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My take on LOTW here in the States.
Grid Squares and VUCC are a big deal over here. All VHF contests use Grid Squares for contest multipliers. One year I made over 1250 contacts during a contest just on Six Meters, and the Grid Square is the info that must be received along with the call sign of the station worked.
Last year in the January VHF contest I made 155 contacts from a SOTA summitā¦same storyā¦Grid Square and call sign is the exchange.
Without that Grid Square info many (Most?) of those QSOās would not have happened.
In 2108 the ARRL had a one year long HF and VHF event using Grid Squares and the scoring was how many different Grid Squares you worked on each band. When I went out to a summit my rare Grid Square was a big deal and needed to be correct in my logā¦not for me, but for the other operators chasing me. Again, no grid info would have resulted in many fewer QSOās.
So here in the States the Grid Square is a big deal, especially in VHF contests, and year round as the VHF operators know SOTA ops go to rare grids and actively chase us for them. Arizona SOTA ops are very active on VHF hereā¦made four contacts on 1296 MHz from my peak yesterday, and a number of 2M contacts alsoā¦just for fun.
I also have made contacts on 432 MHz on ground wave from CM98 to my SOTA summitā¦because the operator did not log the grid square correctly. He used his home QTH grid square to confirm the contact. He was in a Arizona grid at the time. I was on a SOTA summit, 80 miles distant.
Anyhow, just some ideas on why we need to get it right here in the USA. Without that info being correct many of my SOTA contacts would not happenā¦as they only chased me for the rare grid.
I realize that this is not a SOTA issue. It is a āget it rightā issue. We should always endeavor to make our logs as correct as possible, even though we may not participate in an event ourselves.
For all of the same reasons I also put in the correct County into LOTW/my QSLāsā¦not because I need that info, but because they might be county Hunters.
Letās not forget that working Counties, States, Grids results in many people becoming aware of SOTA, and many join our ranksā¦
Anyhowā¦just a little insight to my madnessā¦
73
Pete
WA7JTM
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What? Really?
I use Log4OM ā once I imported my SOTA ADIF into Log4OM I change the locator in my TQSL DK9JC/P profile und click upload to LOTW in Log4OM.
Works perfect and is ultra-fast.
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Food for thought.
Iām relatively new to ham radio and Iāve only 200 sota points as an activator and about the same amount as a chaser (I havenāt looked recently).
I donāt do contests, I donāt chase awards - I wouldnāt mind becoming a Mountain Goat before I die though!. To do that I need to log only on SOTA.
Outside of SOTA I Initially started logging on QRZ.com but only do so now if Iāve logged an āinterestingā country or callsign suffix such as an /MMs. I soon discovered that to have my QSOs āconfirmedā means the other op also needs to put his QSO on the same logging platform. I donāt really need āconfirmationā. I know I had a QSO with the other person - its in my log.
I donāt bother sending QSL cards unless someone sends me one and recently Iāve started to receive cards from some chasers which is nice and I am happy to send mine in reply.
I do record on my SOTA logbook I take on the hill, the Locator reference etc., for the summit Iām on but so far I think Iāve only had one or two people as for my Locator reference. Iāve assumed that if someone needed my Locator or Grid ref, they can ask or email me.
Iām up a hill to do SOTA for myself and other activators and chasers, and Iām not sure I feel obliged to start logging elsewhere to meet someone elseās needs? Perhaps Iām wrong?
Dave.
Hi Dave,
Whenever anyone needs the Locator of a SOTA activator, all itās needed is clicking on the summit reference being spotted or alertedā¦ et voilĆ :
Itās also available on SOTA maps:
And surely in other pages at the SOTA web sites.
73,
Guru
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Not all of us run Log4OM (or even have a computer itāll run on). I put my logs through TQSL manually, and usually create new locations as required because Iāve a habit of re-visiting locations and I figure itās easier to find them in the list than to enter the data anew. It works well enough for me. But yes, up to a point, clunkiness in the logging sites could be smoothed over by clever code in the logging software. In a perfect world Iād select a bunch of QSOs in my logging program, tell it to send them to the logging sites (LotW, eQSL, ClubLog, QRZ, etcā¦), and have all the rest happen automagically (including downloading any QSL details), but this world aināt anything close to perfect.
It works up to a point, but there are certainly some summits where the activation area is in more than one gridsquare (county, state, country, whatever), in which case the activator is the only accurate source of the information. In UK the common requests from chasers (at least on phone modes) are WAB and grid squares, and trig point IDs, so I try to have those noted in advance just in case Iām asked.
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The TQSL project seems to be actively maintained (unlike my projects). Could just chime in and ask if SOTA reference could be added as a new feature to the application. They will certainly appreciate any more serious contribution to this multi operation system C++ project. I think that this application and libraries are kind of reference design and other logging programs will follow with some delay in what comes to new features.
73, Jaakko oh7bf/ac1bb
Thet will never do that until the SOTA database has the same level of security as the LoTW one. That would require at least verification of callsign for each account and a much more secure login system.
Colin
I stopped uploading to eQSL last year as I found the service both outdated and extremely slow, as well as the issue with multiple QTHās that has been mentioned before. I have continued to use LoTW as this seems to be the standard for many people, and because itās not too much work to add the grids I work to TQSL.
I also use QRZ, however the site has some rather major limitations when youāre working internationally, but since so many use it itās a great source for information.
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My only contact with Japan outside of contests at the OE6XUG station is via SOTA, so uploading to LOTW seems sensible.
73 de OE6FEG
Matt
True. The Website itself is so ugly and the usability is just catastrophic. I never log in there, I only push the upload button in Log4OM.
LOTW is the standard besided the classical ARRL cardchecker. All other stuff like eQSL, HRDlog and QRZ.com are only nice supplements on top for e.g. collectors of their specific awards.
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No Club Log?
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Oh, I forgot to say:
I upload every QSO to
LoTW (also QRZ.com, HRDLog, eQSL, Clublog)
Clublog is nice to request paper cards from expeditions.
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If Iām operating from somewhere relatively exotic then Iāll also put my log into ClubLog and maybe into QRZ, but thereās a limitā¦
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For those using QRZ, it appears to me that they completely ignore MY_GRIDSQUARE and plug in your home QTH gridsquare that is listed in your profile. It is just me or has anyone else seen that?
No, they accept it in some cases, but if you use more than 6 characters for MY_GRIDSQUARE they ignore it. They have the same as the other services: you should have a different logbook for each gridsquare, however I doubt many use it.