Michigan QSO Party
Submitting An Electronic Entry
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Michigan QSO Party Submitting An Electronic Entry |
Entries for the Michigan QSO Party can be submitted in either electronic or paper form. Both types of entries are treated equally. Paper logs are typed into electronic form by volunteers on the MiQP committee, then all entries are subject to the same level of scrutiny in checking to determine the final, official score.
Obviously, the MiQP committee would prefer to receive electronic logs. This saves us the effort to type logs into electronic form and thus reduces the time required before the results of the MiQP can be published. Electronic file submittal also benefits the entrant in that typing errors from the manual entry are avoided.
Several of the popular contest logging programs can be used to operate in the MiQP. K8CC's NA Logging Program, N6TR's TRLog and W5XD's WriteLog all offer MiQP support. Other programs may be used as well as long as the file submitted is in ASCII form (i.e., a simple text file, not a word processor or spreadsheet file) and all of the necessary information is present.
In 1999 the ARRL developed the Cabrillo File Specification in an effort to bring some standardization to the process for the electronic submittal of contest log files. Cabrillo offers the contest sponsor a single, consistent format of the log data which can be reliably brought into the sponsor's log checking process. It also benefits the entrant with the confidence that the Cabrillo file contains all of the necessary data to define their entry. Cabrillo has been the required format for electronic file submittal for all ARRL contests since November 2001, and it is the preferred (though not mandatory) format for electronic MiQP logs.
Cabrillo files usually (but not always) have the filename extension .LOG. The files can be viewed or opened with any ASCII text editor such as Windows Notepad. A typical Cabrillo file is shown below.
START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CREATED-BY: NA Version 10.55
CONTEST: MI-QSO-PARTY
CALLSIGN: K8CC
OPERATORS: K8CC, W8MJ
CATEGORY: ALL LOW MIXED ROVER
CLAIMED-SCORE: 510
CLUB: Mad River Radio Club
SOAPBOX:
SOAPBOX:
NAME: David Pruett
ADDRESS: 2727 Harris Road
ADDRESS: Ypsilanti, MI 48198
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1822 K8CC 0001 AREN K8DX
76 OH
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1824 K8CC 0002 AREN N8CQA
48 WASH
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1826 K8CC 0003 AREN W9MSE
23 WI
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1827 K8CC 0004 AREN K8KIC
20 LENA
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1827 K8CC 0005 AREN AD8J
29 PA
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1827 K8CC 0006 AREN K9CW
12 IL
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1828 K8CC 0007 AREN K9PL
25 IL
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1829 K8CC 0008 AREN WA3HAE
73 PA
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1829 K8CC 0009 AREN K5IID
27 WV
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1830 K8CC 0010 AREN K8AA
237 LENA
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1831 K8CC 0011 AREN W3HDH
41 IL
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1832 K8CC 0012 AREN K8AE
33 WAYN
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1833 K8CC 0013 AREN K8VFR
8 MACO
QSO: 7000 PH 2002-04-20 1836 K8CC 0014 AREN W3HDH
43 IL
QSO: 7000 PH 2002-04-20 1837 K8CC 0015 AREN K8DX
88 OH
QSO: 7000 PH 2002-04-20 1838 K8CC 0016 AREN VA3SWG
1 ON
QSO: 7000 PH 2002-04-20 1840 K8CC 0017 AREN AA8SN
88 GRTR
QSO: 7000 CW 2002-04-20 1843 K8CC 0018 AREN N9RV
81 IN
QSO: 14000 CW 2002-04-20 1845 K8CC 0019 AREN K4BAI
56 GA
END-OF-LOG:
The Cabrillo file starts with START-OF-LOG: and ends with END-OF-LOG:. The first lines in the file include important summary information about the entry, such as the callsign used, the category and the return address so that we can mail the entrant his plaque or certificate :-). Every QSO in the log starts with QSO: and includes all the required information about that QSO: frequency, mode, date, time, your call and sent information, the station worked and received information. There are no notations for duplicate QSOs or multipliers as the intent is that the Cabrillo log will be completely rescored by the contest sponsors.
The three major contest logging programs mentioned above (NA, TRLog and WriteLog) all can generate Cabrillo format files for Michigan QSO Party. There may be other programs which can do so as well.
The MiQP committee can also accept logs in the native log format generated by the NA Logging Program. These are referred to as QSO Data Files with the .QDF filename extension. .QDF files contain all the information about the entry, including scoring summary information. No other files need to be submitted with a complete .QDF file.
Many entrants using the TRLog program submit the .ALL file which this program generates. While this file can be accepted for an MiQP entry, it omits your callsign and sent exchange information. Also, because there is no entry summary information in the .ALL file, a separate summary sheet file must also be submitted. If possible, a Cabrillo file from TRLog is preferred because it's less work for the committee and the entrant, but an .ALL file and summary are sufficient as well.
Log files from other logging programs may be submitted as MiQP entries as well, however the entrant should open the file with Windows Notepad or a similar ASCII editor to make sure all of the necessary information is present. Here are the important points to check:
Does your file include all the information to properly classify your entry? This would include your callsign, and entry category (including power sub-category if single-op). Don't forget your address and operator's callsigns (if this is a guest or multi-op entry).
Does each QSO line include all of the information necessary to define that QSO (i.e., date, time, band, mode, your callsign, sent exchange, station worked, and receive exchange)? If information is missing such as your callsign or sent exchange, is this information contained elsewhere in the file or in the associated summary file?
Submitting an electronic file is easy if the entrant has access to Internet e-mail. Simply address an e-mail to the MiQP Committee at logs@miqp.org and include your entry file as an attachment. It is also helpful if the subject line of the e-mail includes your callsign and the words "MiQP Log" or something similar. Those entrants without e-mail access can also mail their logs on floppy disk or CD-R to:
Mad River Radio Club
c/o Dave Pruett
2727 Harris Road
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
MiQP entries must be received within thirty days of the event. In the event of logs with damaged files or missing information, the Committee will make every attempt to contact the entrant to obtain corrections, however the responsibility of the file submittal lies with the entrant.