Correct DXCC detection ? Clublog API ?

[dk3dua]

Hi,

there is IMHO no correct DXCC detection in SL. If you export to ADIF and upload to Clublog, you always get some error reports with incorrect DXCC.
So all your statistics and cluster spot analysis ist not correct.

Also new DXPed-Calls appearing in cluster windows ( current example: VK9WA ) are not showing the right DXCC.

Is there any way to update all QSO's in SL database with correct DXCC detection from Clublog ?
And is there a way to always see the right DXCC in cluster spots ?

I know it's a huge task to maintain a DXCC detection, Clublog maintains the best detection I know, and there is an (IMHO) easy API to use it from every logging software.
You just put the data in JSON container and can do a bulk query in seconds.

Is there a way for SL to use the excellent Clublog API ??
If needed I can offer some help, I did Clublog API calls in PERL.


vy73
Thomas
DK3DUA

[EA3GCV]

Hi Thomas,

Erik is doing an excellent job to keep the country table updated by adding current and past Dxpeditions so that Swisslog recognises most DXCC. You know this is a very huge task! Unfortunately there are some entities that now are not possible to know the exact DXCC by its callsign as could be done previously  (i.e.: VK9 callsigns) and Swisslog can't automatically recognise many callsigns unless the country table is updated (or if user knows the right DXCC simply has to manually selects the right DXCC abbreviation in the DXCC field when adding the QSO).

Clublog is excellent because it gives you a full report of invalid DXCC entries! everyuser has to keep his log updated and when this report is received the best thing to do is to edit every reported QSO and change the DXCC abbreviation to the correct one. This way user will keep updated the DXCC statistic in Swisslog and next time QSO are uploaded into Clublog user won't get any errors regarding DXCC assignments. I always try to avoid manual user actions but some times is not possible to automatise everything!

I'm planning to add some implementation in the future to link with Clublog (for instance the possibility to save the QSO in Clublog at the same time you save QSO in Swisslog). As you probably know I'm not the original programmer. Walter had an accident years ago and he has lost all his programming skills. Since one year ago I'm involved in the programming tasks of Swisslog. But I'm not a professional programmer! I'm doing the best I know trying to learn as much as possible of Delphi language and above all the internal structure of Swisslog. It's a really huge program with more than 1100000 lines of code and I find many difficults to implement things. Every programmer has his own way to structure and write code and Walter was a genious!! Unfortunately I don't have (by far!) his programming skills but I'm doing the best I know. I have learned a lot during this year but I have my own limitations. If you know a way to make an online check in Clublog for DXCC maybe I could implement this feature in future versions. It would be very interesting!! I know how to make an online query to a website via GET/POST Http method to retrieve informations and check with the Swisslog database. In fact the next version which I will be releasing in a few days implements that kind of online queries to check if a station is LOTW/eQSL user and many club memberships as EPC, DMC, DIG, TEN TEN, etc. So if you know a method to make an online DXCC check in Clublog I will really appreciate your help!

Best 73

[EA3GCV]

Hi again,

I have searched on internet for the DXCC Clublog lookup and I have all the information! I will try to implement it!!

Best 73

[dk3dua]

Hello Jordi,

yes it's all ok now, my problem was that I mixed up this second QTH feature in SL with my manual DXCC corrections, I did sometimes answer the question "create a second QTH for call" with yes when simply changing the DXCC. After correcting (deleting PQTH) all those of my errors, SL DXCC detection is excellent, same DXCC and bandpoints as Clublog, for all my life's work :-)

SL is IMHO the best logging program ever, a big thank-you to you and Erik for keeping it alive.

vy73
Thomas
DK3DUA

[EA3GCV]

Hi Thomas,

I'm glad that you found out the source of your problem. The Swisslog's country table is one of the best in the world (or maybe the best  ). Thanks to the big effort of Erik, EI4KF!

However I  have been able to implement both ClubLog functions in Swisslog! I found very interesting the function to fix wrong DXCC allocations. There are always some small number of QSO with wrong DXCC. It's been a bit tricky but I succeeded! For the own nature of the access database the function to update all QSOs may take even hours to complete (depending on the number of QSOs and internet connection). The ClubLog query is really fast but the process of reading/comparing in a logbook with thousands of QSOs needs a lot of time. I have tested with a 4Mb ADSL connection and an Intel Quad Processor computer and it took about 90 minutes to process 14000 QSO. I have placed a progress bar indicating the current processed record number and the total number of corrections made during the whole process. However is not a function to run everyday, maybe it's only executed once or twice but it's worthy because the logbook will stay in mint conditions!

Please stay tuned for the next release and read all the changes and news!

Best 73

[dk3dua]

Hi Jordi,

great how fast you are able to try it.
For complete Logbook check, I think you can do a bulk query wih up to 10000 call/date pairs in one JSON-Container, it takes only seconds and you get the complete answer back.
Maybe query and correction can further be faster if only use an 'group by call and date'  to not query again same lookup.

And for new entries or cluster spots, there are only a few call tolublog, maybe with kind of 'caching' already answered questions for those ever again coming spots of same station.

vy73
Thomas

[EA3GCV]

Hi Thomas,

I read about this bulk query but this makes things difficult to program. Firstly because there is 10000 QSO limit and I have to split the query by groups in large logbooks. Secondly once the received JSON container is created I have to search and compare every string to find the right QSO to set the DXCC. Maybe I speed up the reading process from internet but I will have later to read in sequence the JSON container and search for the QSO in the Swisslog database. So I'm not sure if I would really speed up the whole process.

Currently I prefer to perform a query in sequence for every QSO in the logbook which has been easier to program. I know this function will take a lot of time in very large logbooks but users will probably run this function once (or twice) in a life to perform a full DXCC correction in the whole logbook. Maybe in the future I can speed up the process of this function if I find a better way to do it, but at least I have been able to implement quickly this interesting function in the next version.

Best 73