What Next
Colin Redwood G6MXL explains Logbook of The World.
Colin Redwood G6MXL explains Logbook of The World.
This month I’m looking at Logbook of The World (LoTW) – an electronic alternative to sending and receiving QSL cards, whose popularity is certainly increasing among newcomers and old-hands alike.
Logbook of the World
LoTW is an online logbook matching system. It tries to match contacts (QSOs) in your electronic log with logs uploaded to it from other stations. Where it finds matches, it marks those contacts as confirmed (like an invisible QSL card), Fig. 1. These confirmed contacts can be used to apply for a number of awards, including DXCC for confirmed contacts with 100 entities (≈ countries) without the need for paper QSL cards.
Getting Started
Getting set up with LoTW entails a five-step process, which I have summarised in the flow chart, Fig. 2. There’s a more detailed explanation on the LoTW website (below), together with an extensive Frequently Asked Questions section. By the way, you don’t need to be a member of ARRL to make full use LoTW. www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world
Download and Install Software
1. The Trusted QSL (TQSL) software needed for LoTW can be downloaded from the ARRL website. There are versions of TQSL for Windows, Linux and Macintosh. TQSL is the program that is used initially to set up your personal and station data and subsequently to submit logs to LoTW. www.arrl.org/tqsl-download
Request a Callsign Certificate
2. LoTW uses private-key public-key encryption. The purpose of this is to provide confidence that any log you upload has come from you and no one else. The encryption key is made up of two electronic halves, the TQ5 and TQ6 files. You start by entering some basic data into the TQSL program, which produces a TQ5 file that you then upload to the LoTW website. On receipt, the ARRL will process the TQ5 file and send an e-mail confirming that it has been processed and requesting authentication of your location.
Authentication
3. For amateurs outside the USA, authentication requires a copy of the first page of your amateur radio licence and a copy of some suitable official photographic ID (driving licence or photo page of your passport) to be e-mailed or posted to ARRL. While waiting for the ARRL to process this, you can start preparing your log file(s) for uploading.
ReceiveYour Certificate
4. Once your documentation has been processed by the ARRL, they will e-mail your TQ6 file. The e-mail from ARRL will also include a password that you will need to use when logging into LoTW using an internet browser to view you logs, confirmations and progress towards awards.
ImportYour TQ6 file
5. When you import your TQ6 file from the ARRL, TQSL combines it with the TQ5 file to complete your encryption key.
CreateYour Station Location
The TQSL program will prompt you to add further information about your location, such as your ITU Zone (27 for the British Isles), CQ Zone (14 for the British Isles), Locator Square (IO90JO, for example) and IOTA reference (EU-005 for mainland Britain, for example). If at any time you have operated from other locations using exactly the same callsign (perhaps when you change from home to university address), then you’ll need to set each of the locations up before submitting logs for those operations. Although some of this data is not mandatory, it is helpful for some location-based awards. The ease of doing this is a particular strength of LoTW in my opinion.
Preparing Log Files
You’ll need to have your log file in ADIF (.adi) or Cabrillo (.cbr) format to upload it to LoTW using TQSL. Most computer logging programs (both station logging and contest logging varieties) will generate an ADIF file as an export option. The Cabrillo format is used for HF contest logs. Many data mode programs such as WSJT-X (used for FT8) and those used for PSK31 and RTTY, can also export .adi files
Satellite Contacts
If you’ve made contacts through amateur radio satellites, you’ll need to make sure that your ADIF file includes the propagation mode SAT and the name of the satellite. Without this, your contacts will not be credited as being satellite contacts for either party to the QSO – an important consideration for those wishing to apply for Satellite awards.
No Logging Program
If you don’t have a suitable logging program to generate ADIF files, all is not lost because the TQSL program has a basic data entry screen to enter contacts, Fig. 3. Until you’ve got the hang of this facility, I’d suggest uploading just a handful of QSOs. You can check your log on the LoTW website, Fig. 4.
Alternatively, you can use a tool such as DF3CB’s excellent Fast Log Entry software, to create a suitable ADIF file. This can be a good way to ‘convert’ paper logs to ADIF logs with the minimum of typing – especially if you have many contacts on the same day, band and mode. www.df3cb.com/fle
If you have your log in an Excel spreadsheet, then the ‘essential’ fields can be converted to ADIF using the spreadsheet at: https://tinyurl.com/yd5nkn52
Uploading Log Files
Before uploading your ADIF file, you will be asked to select the callsign you used and the location from which you made the QSOs. You’ll also need to select the log file to be uploaded. Each subsequent file you come to load will need to be given a different file name. If the format of ADIF file is incorrect (unlikely if you have exported it from an established logging program), you will get appropriate error messages. Behind the scenes, the TQSL program will use your certificate to electronically ‘sign’ and encrypt your log file to produce what is known as a TQ8 file. It is the TQ8 file that is actually uploaded to the LoTW server.
There is no need to upload your whole log at one go. You can do multiple uploads and you don’t even need to worry about duplication of QSO data. LoTW spots exact duplicate QSOs and ignores them.
Matching
Once your log has been uploaded, it joins a queue of logs for LoTW to process. This usually takes a few minutes, although it can take longer, depending on how many other logs are waiting to be processed. A match (and hence marking a QSO as QSL’d) is based on the same date (UTC), time (UTC), band, callsign and mode, but not reports. There is a tolerance on the time, so don’t worry if your time is out by a few minutes. This all assumes that the other station uploads their logs to LoTW (as DX1ABC has done in Fig. 1). If the other station hasn’t uploaded their logs (such as DX9XYZ in the diagram), then no match will happen and your QSO will not be marked as QSL’d until such time as DX9XYZ uploads their log (if ever). Note that unlike eQSL, LoTW does not produce QSL cards in any form.
ViewingYour Contacts
To view your contacts in LoTW, you simply use any internet browser to log onto LoTW by entering your callsign and password. You’ll be able to search your contacts by a variety of search criteria including your callsign, the other station’s callsign, date ranges, bands and modes, Fig. 5. I find the most recent QSOs button, Fig. 4, and most recent QSL button very helpful, Fig. 6.
Awards Covered
The range of awards covered by LoTW, Fig. 7, includes many awards issued by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL – the American equivalent of the RSGB) such as DXCC and VUCC. A number of the Worked Prefix (WPX) awards issued by CQ Magazine of the USA can also be claimed from within LoTW.
A range of RSGB and DARC (the German National Society) awards can also be claimed with LoTW data but via the relevant organisation’s website.
Costs
While there are no costs involved in using LoTW, there are often costs involved in claiming awards, just as there are if you were claiming them with paper QSL cards. At least you’re saving the costs of posting paper cards to and from the checker as
well as the cost of printing and sending the cards in the first place!
Popular
There’s no doubt that LoTW has become a very popular way for all operators to store log data with a view to applying for various awards. There are well over 400 Foundation Licence callsigns registered on LoTW. I find the statistics in Table 1 very impressive. Notice in particular that the confirmed ratio is increasing as a growing number of stations worldwide make use of LoTW. Perhaps some of the QSOs are awaiting matching with QSOs in logs from your station?
These days I find roughly 30% of my HF contacts are confirmed on LoTW within a few weeks, although I’m still getting confirmations coming through from older contacts − some up to 30 years ago, Fig. 6 again. I suspect some stations have used the recent lockdown period to convert older paper logs to electronic logs and upload them to LoTW.
Old Paper Logs
There is no need to have your entire log in electronic format to start using LoTW. However, there are lots of benefits to be gained by getting your historical logs into electronic form, if only so that you can easily find previous QSOs with a specific station next time you work them.
If you have old paper logs, then I’d start by just uploading your new QSOs from your electronic log, and then over time, re-key your paper logs, starting with the most recent. You can upload your re-keyed logs to LoTW in batches as big or small as you choose.
Other Callsigns
You’ll need to make sure that the callsign used to upload contacts to LoTW is exactly the same (including any suffixes such as /P or /A) as you used on-air. If you’ve used other callsigns for some of your contacts (e.g. M7ABC/P, MW7ABC, MM7ABC/M), you’ll need to request additional TQ6 files through the TQSL program. You’ll also need to do this for previous callsigns or if you get a new one. Likewise, if you operate from other DXCC entities or use a special event callsign under a Notice of Variation from Ofcom. You don’t need to send your identity information to ARRL as you’ve already provided it.
You can request additional certificates at any point before you upload contacts made using those other callsigns. Allow about a week for additional TQ6 files to arrive. You’ll need to import the additional TQ6 file using TQSL and add location(s), just as you did for your main callsign. You don’t need to do any of this immediately. By all means wait until you are happy with using LoTW for your main callsign.
Other Locations
If you have made contacts from more than one location (perhaps a favourite hilltop used for VHF contests), then you will need to ensure that your log is split into separate files for each location and callsign. For example, you’d need separate log files for each of the following: M7ABC/P operating from IO90AR, M7ABC/P operating from IO81WD, MJ7ABC/P operating from IN89WF.
Keep Those Log Files
Make sure you keep the log files that you have used for uploading to LoTW because they can also be used to upload to other online facilities such as eQSL and Club Log, which I’ll look at in future months.
Corrections
LoTW does not provide a facility to make corrections or delete log entries in LoTW. Incorrect data simply won’t match with other stations uploads and thus will not result in a match. All you can do is to load the correct data and forget the incorrect data. I’d suggest starting with just a few log entries to make sure you get everything correct.
LoTW Users
As a final note, it can be helpful to know who uploads their logs regularly to LoTW because this can be handy if you need a particular confirmation for an award. HB9BZA maintains such a list, which you can find on his website. www.hb9bza.net/lotw-users-list