I’ve come across this annoyance before, wondering if it was annoying anyone else. As I use Fast Log Entry I’ve standardized on qrz.com as my ‘database’ of contacts. When you log contacts they have to be in a logbook with the same callsign, so for example most of my contacts are in the logbook M0NOM/P.
However, there is a restriction that a logbook can only have one slash, so the only logbook I can create for operating on Rhodes is SV5/M0NOM. If I try and upload contacts with the CALLSIGNSV5/M0NOM/P to the logbook created as SV5/M0NOM they are rejected as the callsign doesn’t match the logbook. So effectively I am unable to log foreign portable contacts without changing the callsign in my ADIF input file, but that obviously creates all sorts of other issues. For example, any automatic matches with chasers won’t be recognised.
Is this annoying anyone else? If it comes to it I can switch to a different logging application, as this is a pretty fundamental flaw. I get the same response each time I asked their support: qrz.com does not support more than one slash in logbooks - this is surely a pretty fundamental misgiving.
Since you mentioned Fastlogentry I assume you are paper logging during the QSO. If it’s sota then SOTA CSV editor by Stewart G0LGS is probably what you want since it can output both a CSV for the SOTA database and an ADIF file for whatever else you use.
For a main logging program, i.e. one that can do everything I use CQRLOG which is Linux only, for Windoze I’ve heard reasonably good things about Log4OM
Hi Mark,
If you are referring to matching in the SOTA DB - I “think” that matching drops the /P off the end so it might not be such a problem if your contacts on the recent trip to Rhodes is entered simply as SV5/M0NOM.
I agree with you, however, that it is a failure in the qrz.com log system that it doesn’t handle this valid callsign format with two slashes in it.
73 Ed.
Thanks for the suggestions. I do regularly upload to Clublog, and have just created my SV5/M0NOM/P callsign there. no problems, so I’ll look more into the functionality it provides and maybe that is the simple answer.
I’ll take a look, thanks for the suggestion, I’ve used linux since the Manchester 0.98 distribution, so know it well!
Bear in mind that Club Log is not a logging program - when it reads your ADIF file it only retains the fields that it needs. So if you subsequently need to download your Club Log QSO database you will not get back what you put in.
The QRZ logbook facility was an early attempt at a cloud-based logbook but it never really caught on, has few active users and has seen no development for many years. It is hard to recommend it at any level. However, there are any number of QSO logging programs specifically designed for amateur radio use, both local database-based and cloud-based. Many will automatically upload to Club Log, LoTW, eQSL, etc.
The qrz.com logbook has received an overhaul in the last 6 months or so. Clublog is great but as you suggest doesn’t support editing of qsos. The only thing I really use the edit facility in qrz.com logbook is when marking qsl cards as sent/received.
It is also a convenient was of checking when ‘out n about’ if you have previously had a qso but that is a fairly rare usecase.
My FLE .txt source files remain my source of truth and as I use Linux most of the time searching for them is trivial.
Cqrlog facilities for printing qsl cards look interesting as I was looking to automate that process. It might be all I need initially.