-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching
From: "Frank MacKenzie-Lamb" <maclamb@...>
Date: Tue, May 05, 2020 2:05 pm
To: <N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io>

I HATE the fact the call number in a call doesn’t tell anything  about a location anymore…….had a KH6 only to find he was from PA probably as he wanted a two x one call  ☹

 

From: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io <N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io> On Behalf Of Mike Olbrisch
Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 2:50 PM
To: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io
Subject: Re: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching

 

I will add an additional note to this.  And sorry in advance, it does sometimes seem confusing.  Once you get it figured out, it really isn’t hard at all.  Will someone familiar with E-QSL comment on how this is handled there?

 

I think by now everyone knows having a PREFIX or a SUFFIX added to your call sign on the air makes a difference as to how LoTW sees it.  For example, I presently have six active LoTW certificates for KD5KC, DL/KD5KC, HB9/KD5KC, HB0/KD5KC, OE/KD5KC and OK/KD5KC.  So if I appended the /P to those calls, I would now need an additional six more certificates for KD5KC/P, DL/KD5KC/P, HB9/KD5KC/P, HB0/KD5KC/P, OE/KD5KC/P and OK/KD5KC/P.   This is just the start, now lets go mobile with /M and here come six more certificates for KD5KC/M, DL/KD5KC/M, HB9/KD5KC/M, HB0/KD5KC/M, OE/KD5KC/M and OK/KD5KC/M.  And then there is /QRP etc etc……  Beyond this, you can never be sure how people are going to log you, so you might decide to upload twice, once with no suffix and once with the active suffix.

 

If you are a SOTA “SUMMIT ACTIVATOR” or a “SUMMIT CHASER”, you may or may not know this.  There are a few SPOTTING programs out in the field that makes spotting SOTA summits easy.  And some of these programs will automatically append a /P to the spot.  This used to be required in Germany, but is no longer.  I am not certain of the rest of the world, and I see /P a lot when chasing SOTA summits in Europe, but very few in the USA.  My thought was that if I am signing DL/KD5KC you can pretty much figure out I am a portable station.  But some stations may be signing /P and not realize it, or even knowing it may not upload with the suffix.

 

Never say never, but as I have often said, I do not log a /anything to my call sign.  Or at least not so far.  The program I use will stop appending the /P on my call sign if I add a PERIOD to the end of the call sign ( KD5KC. ).  In the last few weeks I have run into two SOTA summits where I saw the activator signing /P on one spot and not signing /P on another spot.  Before uploading to LoTW and SOTA, I E-mailed that station and asked which would be uploaded, and I was told NO SUFFIX, they forgot to add the period to one spot.

I do not use E-QSL, they make it way too difficult to upload portable locations.  Perhaps someone who is expert in E-QSL can tell us if what I have indicated above also applies to E-QSL.  I really have no clue about E-QSL, but this information can be the difference between confirming and not confirming in LoTW.

 

As ever, I am willing to help anyone over the finer points of using LoTW with multiple certificates and multiple portable locations.  With a little forethought, and a little care, it really isn’t as daunting as it seems.  Call me out on the list, or direct. Just be patient, I may be on shift and short on time.

 

Mike – KD5KC -- El Paso -- Texas.

 

The canyons are calling, colorful and deep.  But I have promises to keep.

And miles to go still in my Jeep...   And miles to go still in my Jeep...

 

 

ADVENTURE:  The respectful pursuit of trouble.

 

 

 

 

From: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io <N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io> On Behalf Of Scott Davis via groups.io
Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 11:30 AM
To: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io
Subject: Re: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching

 

Hi Mark,

 

The affect that it will have on LoTW confirmations will depend on how the person uploading set up his call in TQSL.  If you want the confirmation, when in doubt, it is always good to ask during the QSO.

73, Scott

N3FJP

http://www.n3fjp.com

 

Serving the Amateur Radio community with contesting and general logging software since 1997.

 

1 Peter 3 vs 15: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Erbaugh <mark.election@...>
To: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io <N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io>
Sent: Tue, May 5, 2020 1:13 pm
Subject: Re: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching

I guess I should have been more specific. One station was N8GU/4 indicating that he was operating out of the call area. Another was OZ75MAY/73, which I think is related to a special or an operating event.

 

If I go back and remove the slashed info (and put it in the comment), will that mess up LoTW matches?

 

73,

Mark

 

 

 

From: Mel Marcus
Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 12:25 PM
To: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io
Subject: Re: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching

 

Mark

 

The only reason a person would sign as an /AE was to show that he is allowed in the portion of the band. he took the extra test passed, but the fcc has not updated the database yet. aclog, eqsl, lotw could care less about it.

therefore logging his callsign without the /AE would be approprieate

 

Mel

NE9A

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching
From: "Mark Erbaugh" <mark.election@...>
Date: Tue, May 05, 2020 10:43 am
To: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io

I just started using eQSL with ACLog. I downloaded my inbox and noticed that a few calls were not matching and being flagged as confirmed by eQSL (with an E). In all cases, I think the problem was that I logged the contact with a /<extra> info, which is what the station was signing, but the record in the eQSL inbox didn't have the extra information.  Is there a way to make the match ignore the extra or should I not enter the extra. FWIW, ACLog had no problem properly identifying the country, although it did not properly find the HamCall record.

73,
Mark

 

I will add an additional note to this.  And sorry in advance, it does sometimes seem confusing.  Once you get it figured out, it really isn’t hard at all.  Will someone familiar with E-QSL comment on how this is handled there?

I think by now everyone knows having a PREFIX or a SUFFIX added to your call sign on the air makes a difference as to how LoTW sees it.  For example, I presently have six active LoTW certificates for KD5KC, DL/KD5KC, HB9/KD5KC, HB0/KD5KC, OE/KD5KC and OK/KD5KC.  So if I appended the /P to those calls, I would now need an additional six more certificates for KD5KC/P, DL/KD5KC/P, HB9/KD5KC/P, HB0/KD5KC/P, OE/KD5KC/P and OK/KD5KC/P.   This is just the start, now lets go mobile with /M and here come six more certificates for KD5KC/M, DL/KD5KC/M, HB9/KD5KC/M, HB0/KD5KC/M, OE/KD5KC/M and OK/KD5KC/M.  And then there is /QRP etc etc……  Beyond this, you can never be sure how people are going to log you, so you might decide to upload twice, once with no suffix and once with the active suffix.

If you are a SOTA “SUMMIT ACTIVATOR” or a “SUMMIT CHASER”, you may or may not know this.  There are a few SPOTTING programs out in the field that makes spotting SOTA summits easy.  And some of these programs will automatically append a /P to the spot.  This used to be required in Germany, but is no longer.  I am not certain of the rest of the world, and I see /P a lot when chasing SOTA summits in Europe, but very few in the USA.  My thought was that if I am signing DL/KD5KC you can pretty much figure out I am a portable station.  But some stations may be signing /P and not realize it, or even knowing it may not upload with the suffix.

Never say never, but as I have often said, I do not log a /anything to my call sign.  Or at least not so far.  The program I use will stop appending the /P on my call sign if I add a PERIOD to the end of the call sign ( KD5KC. ).  In the last few weeks I have run into two SOTA summits where I saw the activator signing /P on one spot and not signing /P on another spot.  Before uploading to LoTW and SOTA, I E-mailed that station and asked which would be uploaded, and I was told NO SUFFIX, they forgot to add the period to one spot.

I do not use E-QSL, they make it way too difficult to upload portable locations.  Perhaps someone who is expert in E-QSL can tell us if what I have indicated above also applies to E-QSL.  I really have no clue about E-QSL, but this information can be the difference between confirming and not confirming in LoTW.

As ever, I am willing to help anyone over the finer points of using LoTW with multiple certificates and multiple portable locations.  With a little forethought, and a little care, it really isn’t as daunting as it seems.  Call me out on the list, or direct. Just be patient, I may be on shift and short on time.

Mike – KD5KC -- El Paso -- Texas.

The canyons are calling, colorful and deep.  But I have promises to keep.

And miles to go still in my Jeep...   And miles to go still in my Jeep...

ADVENTURE:  The respectful pursuit of trouble.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching
From: "Mark Erbaugh" <mark.election@...>
Date: Tue, May 05, 2020 10:43 am
To: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io

I just started using eQSL with ACLog. I downloaded my inbox and noticed that a few calls were not matching and being flagged as confirmed by eQSL (with an E). In all cases, I think the problem was that I logged the contact with a /<extra> info, which is what the station was signing, but the record in the eQSL inbox didn't have the extra information.  Is there a way to make the match ignore the extra or should I not enter the extra. FWIW, ACLog had no problem properly identifying the country, although it did not properly find the HamCall record.

73,
Mark

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [N3FJPSoftwareUsers] eQSL Callsign Matching
From: "Mark Erbaugh" <mark.election@...>
Date: Tue, May 05, 2020 10:43 am
To: N3FJPSoftwareUsers@groups.io

I just started using eQSL with ACLog. I downloaded my inbox and noticed that a few calls were not matching and being flagged as confirmed by eQSL (with an E). In all cases, I think the problem was that I logged the contact with a /<extra> info, which is what the station was signing, but the record in the eQSL inbox didn't have the extra information.  Is there a way to make the match ignore the extra or should I not enter the extra. FWIW, ACLog had no problem properly identifying the country, although it did not properly find the HamCall record.

73,
Mark