{"id":606,"date":"2016-01-24T12:27:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-24T16:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/?p=606"},"modified":"2016-01-24T12:29:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-24T16:29:36","slug":"quick-guide-for-uploading-npota-log-to-lotw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/2016\/01\/quick-guide-for-uploading-npota-log-to-lotw\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Guide for Uploading NPOTA Log to LOTW"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Print\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have been having a lot of fun participating in the National Parks on the Air (“NPOTA”)<\/a>event sponsored by ARRL.\u00a0 This event runs for all of 2016 and features hams and groups activating numerous parks, trails, historic sites, monuments and other sites managed by the National Park Service<\/a>, which is celebrating its centennial this year.\u00a0 Since the event began on January 1, it has seen huge participation and activations of many NPS sites.\u00a0\u00a0The high excitement level currently being seen for this event suggests that there will be many activations of the more than 400 sites throughout all of 2016.<\/p>\n

For those that are participating and want to receive credit for activating a certain NPS unit, or those who want to receive credit for working\u00a0 – “chasing” –\u00a0the activations, ARRL’s Logbook of the World (“LOTW”)<\/a> is the only way to officially receive this credit.\u00a0 ARRL is offering certificates for activator and chasers, but you have to use LOTW to log your contacts to be eligible for these certificates.<\/p>\n

In the first few weeks of this event, we have seen a little confusion regarding the proper way for activators to upload their activation logs to LOTW with the appropriate park information.\u00a0 Without the park information in their uploaded logs, they will not receive activator credit, and the stations they worked will not receive chaser credit.\u00a0 I have now activated two locations (and plan to activate more), and went through the process of figuring out the proper way to “sign and upload” the logs for these activations.\u00a0 Following is a brief tutorial of the way to do this.\u00a0 This assumes you have already registered with LOTW and I will not cover that process here.\u00a0 If you have not registered, go to the LOTW site<\/a> and sign up today!<\/p>\n

Once you have registered with LOTW and received your LOTW certificate assigned to your call sign, you will install TQSL version 2.2 (the current version) on your computer.\u00a0 You can then use TQSL to manually enter log data, or you can interface it with many popular logging programs.\u00a0\u00a0 Once you have this completed, you will be ready to upload logs to LOTW.<\/p>\n

So, let’s assume you have activated a NPS site for NPOTA and have 500 log entries to upload to LOTW.\u00a0 How do you do this in such a way to ensure you receive credit for the activation?\u00a0 Following are the steps to do this.<\/p>\n

First, with your logging software, make sure you have saved the log file in ADIF format.\u00a0 Your logging software help files will tell you how to do this.\u00a0 If you have created a paper log for your activation you will have to manually type each entry into a logging program or directly into TQSL.\u00a0 The TQSL help files will show you how to manually enter your log entries (I strongly suggest that you use a logging program to enter you log data in the field as you go.\u00a0 It will save you a lot of time and trouble).<\/p>\n

Next, after you have saved your log to ADIF format on your computer, open the TQSL program.\u00a0 You will be greeted with this screen (click on the images for a larger format).<\/p>\n

\"TQSL1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We are now interested in creating a STATION LOCATION for the park you activated.\u00a0 From the main screen, click on the “STATION LOCATIONS” tab.<\/p>\n

\"TQSL2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here, you will see all of your previously created locations on the left, and option buttons on the right.\u00a0 You want to select the top button on the right to CREATE A NEW STATION LOCATION.<\/p>\n

\"TQSL3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Above is the ADD STATION LOCATION box that opened after you selected “create a new station location”.\u00a0 In this box you will see various options, but you are not required to fill in any of this at this time (your call should be pre-filled).\u00a0 You can fill in these other fields if you wish.\u00a0 Click NEXT at the bottom of the screen.<\/p>\n

\"TQSL4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The screen above is where you will include the park information that is critical for NPOTA activation and chaser credit (NOTE:\u00a0 Only the activator has to do this.\u00a0 If you are a chaser, you do not have to sign your log with park information.\u00a0 The credit is solely derived from the activator’s log<\/em>).\u00a0 On the screen above, use the dropdown boxes to select state, county and park.\u00a0 Note that once you select state, only the counties in that state will be selectable.\u00a0 Likewise, only the parks in that state will be available for you to select.<\/p>\n

\"TQSL5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Above is an example of a completed screen with state, county and park information.\u00a0 After you have completed this, click NEXT at the bottom of the screen.<\/p>\n

\"TQSL6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The final screen in the creation of the new station location will show you the location you just created (along with others) and will allow you to create a unique name for the new location.\u00a0 I suggest that you create a name that will identify the location by park location or designator\u00a0so you will select the correct station location when you are ready to sign and upload your log to LOTW.\u00a0 Click FINISH and your new station location with park designator is complete!<\/p>\n

Now that you have this new station location with park information, how do you use it to upload your log to LOTW?<\/p>\n

\"TQSL1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back at the main TQSL screen, above, you will see two options to get your log interfaced with the new station location you just created.\u00a0 First, you can select “SIGN A LOG AND UPLOAD IT AUTOMATICALLY TO LOTW”.\u00a0 This will allow you to select your ADIF file, sign it with the new location and upload it at that time to LOTW.\u00a0 Second, you can select “SIGN A LOG AND SAVE IT FOR UPLOADING LATER”.\u00a0 This allows you to select your ADIF log file and sign it with the new station location for uploading later when you are logged into the LOTW site on with your browser.\u00a0 Whichever option you choose, you will next see the following box.<\/p>\n

\"TQSL7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here, you will select your new station location with park information.\u00a0 This will then sign and create your LOTW log with the park information appended.\u00a0 If you chose the option to save this log for later upload to LOTW, it will create a file with a “tq8” extension on your computer.\u00a0 That is the file you will later choose to upload to LOTW (assuming you did not choose the first option to upload at that time).<\/p>\n

That’s it!\u00a0 You have now created a station location for your activation and have successfully uploaded it to LOTW.\u00a0 You, as activator, \u00a0and all of the chasers you worked will receive credit for that NPS unit in the NPOTA event.<\/p>\n

There is a very good Activator Guide <\/a>provided by ARRL.\u00a0 Check it our for more helpful information.<\/p>\n

There’s also a You Tube video explaining this process<\/a>, so check it out.<\/p>\n

Have fun with NPOTA in 2016.\u00a0 I look forward to working many of you during the event!<\/p>\n

\"npotahat2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

73,<\/p>\n

Bill<\/p>\n

AB4BJ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been having a lot of fun participating in the National Parks on the Air (“NPOTA”)event sponsored by ARRL.\u00a0 This event runs for all of 2016 and features hams and groups activating numerous parks, trails, historic sites, monuments and other sites managed by the National Park Service, which is celebrating its centennial this year.\u00a0 … Continue reading Quick Guide for Uploading NPOTA Log to LOTW<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"powered_cache_disable_cache":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pDldz-9M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions\/630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}