[Cwo] Log submission process

Alan Maenchen ad6e at arrl.net
Sat May 14 13:53:40 PDT 2011


Sounds good.  I talked to Matt last week.  I'm not optimistic (and neither
is Matt) about his ability to get  log checking software working in time for
us. Long story. As a long term solution it's a really good path to go. I
just want to be up front about this now.  Matts' first priority is CQP and
he has some really interesting ideas that are going to take a lot of
effort.  I have a backup plan in mind if this doesn't work out for CWO this
year, but we should design our process to be compatible with whatever Matt
comes up with.

So, you are right in that Matt should dictate his input criteria and we'll
work with that.

Speaking from some ignorance here, I think his input is simply a corrected
Cabrillo log. By "corrected" I mean really clean with zero format errors.
With luck, most logs will be given to us that way. However, even in CQP
which has existed for decades, there are a large number that need fixing
manually.  If we can identify those up front, it saves time. N6DE and I (and
a couple others) spent several days cleaning up CQP logs this last year. We
used Notepad++ to reformat bad logs.  It was many weeks between the contest
and the start of log checking, and I'd like to minimize that time.

As a FYI, I'm expecting 1000 logs for CWO.  There are three contests, and
that means only 330 logs each. When Rob gets done with his publicity
campaign, we'll be very well known.

Don,  Just curious - which upload code did you get?  There are two that I
know of.  WA6O wrote code using Microsoft tools and was used 2 and 3 years
ago. Then this last year, N6RNO wrote new stuff for use on his Linux server.
I don't know if one is better or worse than the other.

73, Alan  AD6E




On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 1:09 PM, Don Greenbaum <don at aurumtel.com> wrote:

>  Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, wrote the NCJ web submit routine.  I also have the CQP
> php upload routine that I can modify.  Both scoop up cabrillo files and dump
> them in an directory on a server.  This is not a problem.
>
> But, we have been  talking to Matt Thomas about using the CQP routine for
> checking.   If he can take the input we get off the Bruce Horn uploads,
> (they are cabrillo) then I'll ask Bruce for a copy of his upload process.
>
> Since we are relying on Matt for the log checking we should wait for his
> input.   Writing a PHP routine to get the logs off an upload page is a piece
> of cake.  BUT, before that happens, we need to know what Matt wants.
>
> Don
> N1DG
>
>
> At 02:39 PM 5/14/2011, Alan Maenchen wrote:
>
> Don,
>
> Here's what I think needs to happen in the log submission process.  Of
> course, I'm open to ideas. A lot of this is obvious, but I'll say it anyway.
>
> The top level process goes something like this:
> 1) Receive logs via web and post a list of logs received.
> 2) Fix logs manually (those that need fixing - expect a lot)
> 3) Check logs (a major process in itself)
> 4) Sort for winners and rank
> 5) Write and publish results
>
> Anything we can do in #1 to minimize the work in #2 is a good thing.
>
> For log submission, something as simple as this would work well:
> http://www.ncjweb.com/naqplogsubmit.php
> If we feel it would help, we could add more user entered data such as which
> contest period this log is for.  While I'm trying to get individual logs for
> each time, there will always be a few who ignore.  We will see many variants
> of "Cabrillo".  We may also see the wrong contest. I typically got one or
> two CQWW logs as CQP entries every year. Binary logs .. It happens.
>
> Minimum:
> 1)  Save all log entries regardless of errors.
> 2)  Save each entry to a file on a server.
>     I like FTP since I know how to do that, but other ideas welcome.
>     How to organize file names?  Does a re-submittal wipe out the original
> log?
> 3)  Give the user a "thank you" note to QSL their submission... even if it
> has errors.
> 4)  Discover the call sign.  May be a separate entry window, or look at the
> CALL:  log line
> 5)  Discover which time period this log represents.
>      Store the log in a separate directory for each time period or somehow
> identify it in the file name.
> 6)  Discover power category.
> 7)  Discover operator call if not the same as station call.
>
> Not required, but desirable:
> 1)  Check the file to see if it's in "sort of" Cabrillo form:
>      not sure exactly what to look for. Any errors found here can be fed
> back to the entrant and (hopefully) they will fix and re-submit.
>      This can include reading one QSO: line and see if the data fields are
> readable (logical).
>      The more that can be done here, the less "log fixing" we have to do
> later.
>      Log checking will require only the QSO data: (Time, Band, S_Call,
> S_NR, S_Name, R_Call, R_NR, R_Name)
> 2)  Check the file and extract a claimed score. This can be used to post on
> a "logs submitted" page (or not).
> 3)  what else?
>
>
> Well, this is a start.
>
> Note:  Personally, I know how to deal with individual files. Eventually
> data needs to be collected and transferred to a spreadsheet. I can do that
> from text files. Personally, I do NOT know how to deal with a database.
> Other contests are using SQL, but that's over my head. WX5S software is all
> based on database structures. That's fine so long as the result gets into a
> spreadsheet somehow. Getting the individual logs into and through the log
> checking process is a separate issue. I think if we receive each log and get
> it into a fixed Cabrillo format that's consistent, we can then move forward.
>
> 73, Alan  AD6E
>
>
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> Don Greenbaum
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