[DogParkList] MacLoggerDX Contest Log Fields

[Don Agro]

Hi Scott,

On Friday, May 30, 2003, at 09:48  PM, B. Scott Andersen wrote:

> The date on the http://home.no.net/jlog/adif/adif2-suggestions.htm is 
> about a year ago.
> The date on http://www.hosenose.com/adif/proposed_changes.htm is 
> December 20, 2002.
> I don't know what conclusions to draw from that (if any).

I am on the ADIF mailing list, and you can find the final 2.1.2 spec 
here:

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adifdev/files/>

We should also make sure we are consistent with the upcoming ARRL Log 
Book of the World:

<http://www.arrl.org/lotw/>
<http://www.arrl.org/lotw/#develop>


> SOOOO....
>
> I would suggest the addition of four new columns (yes, that's a lot, I 
> know):
> [1] serial/numeric sent (with the _optional_ auto fill/auto increment 
> feature)
> [2] serial/numeric received
> [3] exchange sent (string)
> [4] exchange received (string)

No problem - they will all be ascii text in the tab delimited file, but 
MacLoggerDX can impose the numeric restriction, auto increment etc.

Even though ADIF imposes no size limits on these fields, for speed and 
memory footprint sanity what do you suggest for field size Str15, 
Str31, Str63 ?

They should be large enough to handle anything that might come in from 
a PC ADIF import as well as handle anything that any contest might 
throw at us.


> For contests that need serial numbers the auto fill/auto increment 
> number
> will work nicely.
>
> For contests that require numeric data (such as the zone number of 
> CQWW)
> the serial number/numeric field will get the two digit number exchanged
> in addition to the RS value. So, a typical thing I would send is "you 
> are 5904".
> The 59 goes in the RS(T) column; the zone 04 goes in the 
> serial/numeric sent column.
> Of course, my "sent" information for this contest will _always_ be 
> 5904 so if
> you could autofill that value over and over (instead of incrementing), 
> that
> would be handy.
>
> For contests that require more complex interactions would use the 
> strings.
> Check this out from the ARRL November Sweeps Phone rules.
>
> o o o
> 4. Exchange: The required exchange consists of:
>    4.1. A consecutive serial number;
>    4.2. Precedence;
>     4.2.1. "Q" for Single Op QRP;
>     4.2.2. "A" for Single Op Low Power;
>     4.2.3. "B" for Single Op High Power;
>     4.2.4. "U" for Single Op Unlimited;
>     4.2.5. "M" for Multi-Op;
>     4.2.6. "S" for School Club;
>    4.3 Your Call Sign;
>    4.4. Check (the last two digits of the year you were first 
> licensed);
>    4.5. ARRL/RAC Section
>   Example: WA4QQN would respond to W1AW's call by sending: W1AW 123 B 
> WA4QQN 71 NC, which indicates QSO number 123, B for Single Op High 
> Power, WA4QQN, first licensed in 1971, and in the North Carolina 
> section.
> o o o
>
> Yes, I wrote my standard exchange
>   <CALL> ### A NE1RD 02 EMA
> on a card and taped it to the top of the radio. By the 200th QSO, I 
> was such a
> zombie I wondered on a couple of exchanges if I'd said all the right 
> stuff--but
> the station always came back QRZ?(!) [so, I guess we were done!]
>
> For extra credit, it would be nice if you could have the sent string 
> auto fill
> with some fixed information (like "A NE1RD 02 EMA") and insert the 
> calling station's
> ID and the sequence number. That's probably overkill since you could 
> write the
> report writer to conjure that from a serial number field (above). 
> That's what I
> did for the November contest. I put the serial numbers in the RS(T) 
> fields and
> put the other information collected from the other station in the 
> comment. The
> Cab formatter then assembled the information appropriately at report 
> generation time.
>
> So, that's food for thought.

Thanks Scott, a great outline !

I would like to implement the changes you suggest in this order :

1) review ADIF 2.1.1 and LOTW to finalize spec (above).
2) Add new fields to database.
3) add new fields to log table (display and edit).
4) add new fields to ADIF import/export.
5) add UI support, auto increment etc.
6) document including revised "B. Scott Andersen's Contesting Tips" for 
the manual.

If you don't object, I would like to draft you to beta test steps 1-5 
and to do step 6 :)

BTW great news that you may be continuing with the Cabrillo formatter.


Best Regards,
Don Agro

D o g   P a r k   S o f t w a r e   L t d .

email: dagro@dogparksoftware.com
   www: http://www.dogparksoftware.com