Contest logging¶

Contest Logging is the QSO menu item for a contest. It is a faster screen than General Logging: the exchange, the serial, and the contest name stay put while you type callsigns.

The contest names in the dropdown come from Admin, Contests. A name that is switched off there does not appear here. Adding a contest is covered below.

Picture needed: contest-logging.png Contest Logging in LIVE mode. Session settings open: exchange type, contest name, operator callsign, band and mode. The callsign box and Save QSO visible.

Live and post¶

The badge next to the heading switches the screen.

LIVE follows the clock. Date and time are filled in for you. This is the one you want during the contest.
POST lets you type the date and time. This is for writing the log up afterwards, from paper.

Session settings¶

Session Settings, at the top, holds the things that stay the same for a run of contacts.

Exchange Type. None, Exchange, Gridsquare, Serial, Serial + Exchange, or Serial + Gridsquare. Pick the one the contest rules ask for. The matching boxes appear on the logging line: serial sent and received, exchange sent and received, your gridsquare, and theirs.
Contest Name. The contest this contact belongs to.
Operator Callsign. Who is sitting at the radio, which can differ from the station callsign.
Mode, band, frequency, and radio. The radio list is the rigs Cloudlog has heard from. With one selected, frequency can follow the rig. See Hardware Interfaces and Cloudlog Aurora.

Start new Contest Session clears that session so the next contest starts clean. It is the button at the top right. Reset QSO clears the callsign line you are typing. Save QSO writes the contact.

Extra fields, under the buttons, holds a name, a comment, and Copy exchange to. That last one copies the received exchange into DOK, name, age, state, power, or locator, for contests that hide an award reference inside the exchange.

During the contest¶

While you type, the page offers callsigns from the partial list, and a Call History panel when the callsign is on one of your membership files. The session stats are the contact count, the count by band, and the rate per hour. The contest logbook under the line is this session, with its own search box.

Bandmap opens the DX cluster bandmap in its own window, so you can see spots and click one to tune the radio.

Export Cabrillo, on the same row, builds the Cabrillo file from this contest. The same export also lives under your callsign, Other Export Options, Cabrillo Export, if you want it later.

Your gridsquare on a gridsquare exchange is taken from the station. Check it before the first contact. A wrong locator is a wrong exchange, and it is stored on every contact after that.

The contest list¶

Admin, Contests is the list of names. You only see Admin when your user is an administrator.

Active contests appear in the Contest Name dropdown. Inactive ones are hidden. Activate and Deactivate are on each row. Activate all and Deactivate all are at the bottom, for the weekend you want one name and not forty.

Add Contest asks for a name you will recognise, and the ADIF contest name. The ADIF name is the short identifier stored on the contact. Use the one the contest specifies, so a Cabrillo file and an ADIF export name the contest the way the robot expects.

Picture needed: contest-names.png Admin, Contests. A few names, one active, the Add Contest button visible.