Submitting Logs

Electronic Logs

Please submit CQ WPX RTTY Contest logs via e-mail to rtty@cqwpx.com. Logs are required to be in the Cabrillo file format and should be named call.log (call used in contest). You can view the current list of Logs Received.

Cabrillo format logs are received by a log processing robot which always returns an e-mail response to your submission. That response can be one of the following three types:

If your log has been submitted correctly, the robot's an e-mail response will contain a tracking (confirmation) number.
1. If there are no comments about potential problems or questions with your log, you're done!
2. However, if there is a problem that the robot corrected, then be sure the correction is really "correct" and what you want. If not, correct your Cabrillo log and resubmit. An example is the omission of the CATEGORY-POWER: line in the Cabrillo header. If missing, the robot inserts CATEGORY-POWER: HIGH, so if your entry is actually LOW, you will want to add that to your header and resubmit the log.
If there is a problem with your log that the robot does not fix, then the robot's e-mail will have suggestions for how to fix your log. Read this e-mail carefully. Most log submission problems are minor and can be corrected in one pass. Submit your log as many times as needed. Once you get the tracking number, your log has been accepted ... but, with the caveat of 1.b. above that the robot may have made corrections that you don't want!

It is very important that the call sign you used in the contest (the one in your log) appears in the subject line of the e-mail. If this information is not there, your log will be rejected by the robot.

Completely fill out the header information in the Cabrillo file. This is typically done when you are setting up the contest information in your logging program. However, the header can be modified or completely created after your logging program creates the Cabrillo format file of your log. Just use a well-behaved text editor like Notepad or the DOS editor to edit the Cabrillo file directly.

Check the Cabrillo file header closely before submitting your log. Items may have been omitted or may be incomplete. If you did not answer all of the questions correctly when you set up the contest in the logging program or have changed your mind about your category, or the operator list has changed and you do not correct these items, the wrong information will get posted to the Cabrillo file. Whatever is recorded in the header of your Cabrillo file at the time you submit your log is how your entry will be processed.

The only way to change your log entry once the robot has accepted it is for you to submit another log. Only the most recently submitted log will be used in log checking.

A Checklist for Sending Email Logs

Your callsign should be the only thing in the subject line of the email. (Subject: W0YK or Subject: W0YK/KH6)
There should be nothing in the body text area of the email.
The log file should be an attachment to the email. The name of the log file should be call.log, with call being the callsign used in the contest. If you operated portable, substitute a hyphen (-) for the slash, e.g. W0YK/KH6 should name the log file w0yk-kh6.log.
The log should be in Cabrillo format. See Editing the Cabrillo File below for details. (Note that this is based on the current Cabrillo 3.0 specification. Cabrillo 2.0 logs are also accepted by the robot and converted into 3.0 format automatically.) The robot will send you a reply email message confirming receipt of your log. If there are format errors, it will attempt to fix them and tell you what changes it made. If it cannot fix the errors, it will describe what the problem is so you can edit the log and email again to the robot. If you can't get an error-free response from the robot, ask for help with an email to w0yk@cqwpxrtty.com.
- Be sure each line in the header begins with a key as shown below.
- Check the header area of the log to be sure there are spaces after the colons and the keys are properly hyphenated.
- The log begins with START-OF-LOG: 3.0 and has both hyphens with a colon at the end.
- The contest name in the log is CONTEST: CQ-WPX-RTTY This is the only name that is accepted.
- The category is one of the standards shown below.
- The time and date (UTC) of each QSO must be within the contest period. If not, the robot will reject those QSO lines and may think the log is for the wrong contest.
- The last line in the log is END-OF-LOG:
Example:

START-OF-LOG: 3.0
CALLSIGN: NP3U
CLAIMED-SCORE: 10418000
CLUB: CTRI Contest Group
CONTEST: CQ-WPX-RTTY
CREATED-BY: WriteLog V10.63H
NAME: Tom Hayes
ADDRESS: 1759 Sheeptown Road
ADDRESS: Oxnard, ME 02039
OPERATORS: W1AN K3IU AJ1M N1HRA WP4U WP4N
SOAPBOX: EQUPMENT TROUBLE KEPT US WAY SHY OF OUR 15,000,000 GOAL, BUT THE HARD WORK AND EFFORT KEPT US GOING. GO CTRI!
LOCATION: PR
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: MULTI-OP
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: TWO
CATEGORY-BAND: ALL
CATEGORY-POWER: HIGH
CATEGORY-MODE: MIXED
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: ASSISTED
CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0002 NP3U          599      1 VE1SK         599    001 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0003 NP3U          599      2 HB9DHG        599    002 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0003 NP3U          599      3 SI4G          599    001 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0004 NP3U          599      4 IW1AYD        599    001 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0006 NP3U          599      5 UZ2I          599      1 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0007 NP3U          599      6 I4HRH         599      1 0
QSO: 14081 RY 2009-02-14 0007 NP3U          599      1 UA0ZAM        599    002 1
QSO: 14081 RY 2009-02-14 0007 NP3U          599      2 K7RE          599    004 1
QSO: 14081 RY 2009-02-14 0008 NP3U          599      3 AB0YM         599    002 1
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0008 NP3U          599      7 G4WGE         599    004 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0009 NP3U          599      8 LY6A          599    011 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0009 NP3U          599      9 I1OQI         599    004 0
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0010 NP3U          599     10 W1GSH         599    003 0
QSO: 14081 RY 2009-02-14 0010 NP3U          599      4 K0SR          599    011 1
QSO: 7044 RY 2009-02-14 0011 NP3U          599     11 OM3KWZ        599    007 0
QSO: 14081 RY 2009-02-14 0013 NP3U          599      5 K7IA          599    002 1
END-OF-LOG:

Editing the Cabrillo File

When manually entering Cabrillo header information, please follow the format below. The format for each entry is a key (LABEL: ) followed by a space.

START-OF-LOG: 3.0

Must be the first line of the log submission.

END-OF-LOG:

Must be the last line of the log submission.

The intervening lines between the two lines above are:

CALLSIGN: callsign

The callsign used during the contest.

CATEGORY-ASSISTED: ASSISTED

CATEGORY-BAND:

ALL
80M
40M
20M
15M
10M

The band-category must be one of the following: ALL, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M or 10M. If you are entering an all band category, use ALL, otherwise select one of the individual bands shown. If you are entering as a single band but have QSOs on other bands, those QSOs must be included in the log. However, the log will be scored on the basis of your single-band designator in the CATEGORY-BAND: line.

CATEGORY-MODE: RTTY

CATEGORY-OPERATOR:

SINGLE-OP
MULTI-OP
CHECKLOG

CATEGORY-POWER:

HIGH
LOW

CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED

CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER:

ONE
TWO
UNLIMITED
SWL

CLAIMED-SCORE: n

The claimed-score of the log submission, in integer form such as 1217315 or 19113 or 12. Do not use commas.

CLUB: text [optional]

Name of the radio club with which the score should be aggregated. Please spell out the club name exactly as it is listed on the Club Names web page.

CONTEST: CQ-WPX-RTTY

CREATED-BY: text [optional]

Name and version of the logging program used to create the Cabrillo file.

EMAIL: text [optional]

A place to put an email address, if desired. This field will be ignored by ARRL and CQ email robots, which determine the email address from the headers of the inbound message.

LOCATION:

ARRL/RAC section for US/VE, otherwise DX [required for US, optional for others]

NAME: text
ADDRESS: text
ADDRESS-CITY: text
ADDRESS-STATE-PROVINCE: text
ADDRESS-POSTALCODE: text
ADDRESS-COUNTRY: text

Name and address. A maximum of four ADDRESS: lines is permitted.

OPERATORS: callsign1 [callsign2 callsign3...]

A space-delimited list of operator callsign(s). Do not use commas. You may also list the callsign of the host station by placing an "@" character in front of the callsign within the operator list, such as

	OPERATORS: @N6IJ

SOAPBOX: text [optional]

Enter as many lines of soapbox text as you wish. Each line is 75 characters long and must begin with SOAPBOX: followed by a space.

QSO: qso-data

QSO data as specified by the Cabrillo QSO data format. All QSO lines must appear in chronological order. Cabrillo QSO template for CQ WPX RTTY QSO data:

                              --------info sent------- -------info rcvd--------
QSO: freq  mo date       time call          rst exch   call          rst exch   t
QSO: ***** ** yyyy-mm-dd nnnn ************* nnn ****** ************* nnn ****** n
QSO: 28000 RY 2002-02-10 2126 LU/N5KO       599 0001   KA4RRU        599 0530  
000000000111111111122222222223333333333444444444455555555556666666666777777777788
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901

Please ensure that your Cabrillo file includes this information. All logs, including Multi-Op, must include both sent and received serial numbers. Multi-Multi and Multi-Two must show serial numbers sent and received by band. For the Multi-Two category, the last column in the log indicates which transmitter made the QSO, a 0 or a 1.

Paper Logs

E-mail logs via the robot are encouraged. If you can not send an electronic log, you may mail your log to CQ Magazine, 25 Newbridge Rd, Suite 405, Hicksville NY 11801. Please mark the envelope plainly as WPX RTTY.

Click here to obtain a copy of the paper log submission forms (summary sheet and log page).

Web Form for Typing in Paper Logs

WA7BNM has created a web form where you can type in your paper logs and submit them electronically in Cabrillo format. Click here to go to the web form. Select CQ WPX RTTY Contest.

MixW Notes

(Thanks to Rich, VE3KI (ex-VE3IAY) for providing these notes. Any errors are the responsibility of the editor, W0YK)

In order to create a proper Cabrillo format log, MixW must be properly configured before stations are worked and logged. Otherwise, extensive text editing will be required to transform the Cabrillo file that MixW produces after the contest. Here are the steps for using MixW in CQ WPX RTTY and creating a correct Cabrillo 2.0 format file:

Set up for the contest using MixW's "View -> Contest mode" or "Logging -> Contest mode" menu item. Create a new contest setup using the "Add new" button. Be sure to fill in the correct UTC start and end dates and times for this year's running of the contest in the Contest settings dialog. Check the "AutoInc" check box.
Log the received exchange for each contact into the following two fields:
- RST_recvd
- Exch_recvd (serial number)
After the contest, invoke the Cabrillo export function in MixW to create your Cabrillo file for submission as described above in Electronic Logs.
Select the "Simple (RST & exch number)" Cabrillo format.
Open up the Cabrillo file in a text editor (Notepad, Wordpad, MS Word, etc.) and verify that it conforms to the Cabrillo specification above in Editing the Cabrillo File, particularly the QSO data format. Both the sent and received exchange must have two elements: RST and serial number). Note that some of the Cabrillo header lines are different between version 2.0 created by MixW and version 3.0 shown above. This is OK because after emailing your log (see next step 6.), the server will convert those lines to version 3.0 which you will see in the reply email.
After submitting your Cabrillo file to rtty@cqwpx.com, you will receive a reply email message saying that your log format is OK, or listing the specific problems that you must correct and then re-submit to rtty@cqwpx.com.