I check my eQSL inBox for EA2IF/P from time to time and often find far too many cards not matching their QSO information with that in my log. A quick check reveals a common reason for such unmatching is several stations operate as /P but they don’t include such suffix /P to their eQSL callsign and that causes unmatching QSOs that can’t be confirmed.
Stations working /P and confirming through eQSL their QSOs made under such callsign, should create a specific new account at eQSL for their callsign/P.
The same applies to stations working from a different DXCC country signing with the visited DXCC country as a preffix. If I activate SOTA in the Canary Islands, I’ll use EA8/EA2IF/P and I shouldn’t try to confirm my QSOs from such location from my eQSL account EA2IF or EA2IF/P. What I’ll have to do instead is creating a specific new account for EA8/EA2IF/P and I’ll upload into that specific new account all my QSOs made from the Canary Islands.
To make things properly, a new eQSL account should be created for each individual SOTA activation, because an eQSL account is linked to a specific QTH Locator, which is usually different for each SOTA summit and also because a SOTA activation takes place on a specific date only. I started doing like this but after 11 activations, I realised this is far too much tedious work and I decided to create a new account for EA2IF/P to be used for all SOTA activations, but with the QTH info of my base station QTH.
I know I should have have created specific new accounts when I activated in other countries, as F/EA2IF/P and CT7/EA2IF/P, but I haven’t so far and that’s why I haven’t uploaded those QSOs into eQSL and they remain in my computer log.
I hope this is of help and spares me having to reject so many unmatching eQSLs from time to time.
I know very well what your decision was about this QSLing thing and I often feel tempted to adopt the very same position. For some reason I haven’t yet, but I feel the day is getting closer…
Cheers,
Yes Andy, we know. I think you might have mentioned it before.
I guess QSLs are like contests - and Marmite. You’re either really into them - or you’re really not.
How do you know if someone is a vegan, an electric car driver or a QSL-hater? Easy - they WILL tell you
I adopt a similar policy with eQSL, LOTW, Clublog etc Guru. I’m happy to use the systems, but I’m not happy to spend disproportionate amounts of admin time on them. Therefore I DO record all my callsigns used accurately on all the records - M1EYP, MM, MJ, MU, MW, MI, MD, /M, /P, /A, MV, MR, MO, MQ etc - but don’t then split those into the 460+ portable locations I’ve operated from!
I had the same problem after my first activation!
Looking a bit at the SOTA QSL’s I was receiving (F6HBI and F5LKW…) I asked them the question “how are you doing?”. I used the Gérald method @F6HBI.
In fact I created an F5JKK/P account leaving only own home locator (otherwise it doesn’t work) and I put a photo which is the same for all the summits !
The mess is pretty much inevitable, given the way eQSL’s implemented.
I’ve got to the point where I try to upload my logs (always using the callsigns that were used on-air) only because I know some folk like the confirmations. I don’t often check whether I’ve received any eQSLs in response. For actvating, I find eQSL’s way of handling locations is also hideous.
I agree with all the complaints! I am not an activator or dxpeditioner, but I receive a LOT of E-QSLs. One evening recently I checked it and there were over 1,000 E-QSLs in the 20 meter in-box. I cleaned up some of it and there are still hundreds that don’t match. I am NOT going to dig out logbooks and start manually looking them up.
I upload to E-QSL because other people like it, but I sure don’t. It’s too easy to confirm non-QSOs. I’m sure there are people who just go
through their in-box and mark all confirmed without checking.
Just my 2 cents worth!
73,
John, K6YK
This is EXACTLY why I don’t generally use eQSL for SOTA. WAY too much work. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze. They need to improve the functionality for people who work portable.
However, investigating a bit the unmatched contacts in my eQSL inbox, served me to find 2 wrongly copied suffixes that I have now corrected and a few activation logs that I had uploaded to the SOTA database but I had forgotten to import to my computer log, therefore I had never uploaded to eQSL.
I’m not sure these kind of things can be found out and solved on LOTW.
Either way, this is one of the reasons why I keep doing eQSL.
When I started SOTA, I created one account per activation. Since you need a new account when you activate the same QTH twice, I got tired of it. I then created one account for my /p operations and use the QSO comments field to indicate locator and SOTA reference.
…if it also resolves the issue of re-activating old locations. At present you can only have one start and end date for each location, and last time I tried, it refused to create a second location with the same name. I guess adding a date key as well as a grid square to the name might work. It’ll make the business of checking for QSLs absolutely hideous, though, as you’d have to visit each flagged ID in turn, and there could be thousands…
It is like this at the moment and it’s a nightmare when you have dozens of different accounts and the system wants you to log in and out of every single account each and every time you want to just check eQSLs in your in-box.
(Slightly) off topic. I resurrected my LOTW account the other day, thinking it might be good for satellite work. Afraid I’ve lost interest already when it refused to allow me to share the TQSL with another computer. I’m fully bought into the SOTA principles :
It’s a personal challenge, not a competition
I just do it for my own enjoyment
I know who I worked. If anyone wants to claim a false contact with me - boogaloo
This same thing happenned to me: I also was doing LOTW some years ago, but then I changed laptop and didn’t transfer the TSQL to the new laptop. Later I got messages telling about my TSQL expiring. I never tried to find out how to update it and I admit I don’t want to know just to spend more of my hobby time on boring useless admin. work.
73,
Hi
The misery does not end there, another example: eQSL affairs are ok but: in the comment section of the eQSL no SOTA reference and that I can report regularly.
Another one: wrong mode or band, the reason eqsl repeats automatically certain information from the previous eQSL filled out, so if the activator does not double check there is wrong info on the card.
73
Patrick
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