Newbie Questions please?

[M0GWD]

Good morning

I have recently uploaded Log4OM and it looks great. A couple of questions please ....

I have entered my station and locator settings but distances to logged stations are incorrect. For example, in the UK, any G or M prefix will give me 134.1 miles and always the same locator of IO90FS. I am not sure how to correct this and do I need to enter my QTH Lat / long somewhere?

Secondly, is it possible to individually adjust column widths please? I want to see all of the text in the Comments column.

I hope that you can assist?

Many thanks and 73

Mick
M0GWD

[G4POP]

Hi Mick,

When entering a contact the other station distance and bearing are calculated as follows...

1. If the user types in a locator that is what we use.

2. If no locator is provided the call is checked against the special call list and Clublog exception list and if found we use the locator provided.

3. When 1 and 2 above fail to provide a locator the program then checks with QRZ or HamQTH depending on which the user has selected and if a locator is found we use it.

4. If after all of the proceeding checks no locator is available the distance and heading are calculated by using the center of the country defined by the call prefix in the country file and the locator for the center of the country is entered in the contact details.

You will appreciate that if a number of calls have had the locator entered as in 4 above, because a locator was not defined in steps 1, 2 & 3, then all of those for the same country will have the same locator, distance and heading.

So it would seem that you are not using QRZ or HAmQTH lookups and the calls being G or M are unlikely to be listed in the SCL or Clublog exceptions list, this would be why you are getting the same data for locator, distance and heading.

You should check the the appropriate boxes are checked in the settings tab of the user options window and also make sure that you are using one of the Internet call lookup facilities.

See this thread for a complete explanation http://www.pisto.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=106


You can vary the column widths by using the 'Layout' button at the bottom of the page and selecting the second tab in the resulting window.

[M0GWD]

Hello Terry, good afternoon

Firstly thanks for the prompt reply. I have printed off the manual and also now have column widths adjusted and the cluster working.
Clearly any UK callsign I put in is going the centre of the country - although 134 miles North of my locator is nowhere near far enough to the rough centre.

In the Settings 1 tab, I had Use QRZ.COM enabled and show distances in miles.
I had my User / Password for QRZ.com entered too.
Also enabled were:
Use Clublog Exception Information
Use Special Callsign Information
Realtime Look-up

I unchecked the above three, re-inserted my user (M0GWD) and my QRZ.com password, then saved and exited the program. Still the same. I've tried several combinations.
Any M or G station gives me the distance of 134 miles from locator. I have confirmed that my User/Password gets me into QRZ.com.

Not sure what to do next Terry? Any further advice please would be appreciated.

Many thanks and 73

Mick
M0GWD

[G4POP]

Mike,
Do you pay for your QRZ subscription to QRZ because if not the Locator will not be supplied as it is for paid XML lookups?

If you don't pay for your subscription I suggest that you enrol with HamQTH which is free.

Please supply four G and M calls which cause you problems

The locator supplied for the prefix in the country file is arbitrary and may not represent the centre as you perceive it

[M0GWD]

Hello Terry, good afternoon

No I'm not a subscriber to QRZ.com but I've been thinking about subscribing for some time now. I think I will.
Here's some of the callsigns:
Mike G4PRG is 8 miles from me - he is a QRZ.com subscriber
Ted G3XUX is also about 8 miles away in the opposite direction.
M0SAS Worcester
GB0BB Hull

All come up at 134.1 miles as soon as I type in the first two characters (Prefix)
European stations including Eire all seem to come up with the correct distances, so I can't see how not being a subscriber to QRZ.com doesn't affect those as well if that's the problem.
As an experiment I'll enrol with HamQTH and try that.

I'm sure that it's solvable.

Thanks Terry

73

Mick
M0GWD

[M0GWD]

Hello Terry

I've just registered and now tried using HamQTH and it's exactly the same. 134.1 miles every time for G and M stations, and 2E0 stations also.

My previous logging program was nGenLog, which is still installed, but no longer in production and is not supported anymore. I've given up with it because despite doing regular back-ups, I lost my entire log with at Christmas, never to be recovered.

Thanks for your help Terry.

73

Mick
M0GWD

[G4POP]

Mick,
THe country locator derived from the country prefix file provides an approximate beam heading so it will appear to be correct for you with Eire and Europe and also Scotland and Wales, try entering a GM0 or GW0! but it will not be accurate for large continents like the USA, Australia and Ukraine.

Unless you pay for a subscription with QRZ you will not get a locator returned!

All of the calls that you provided work fine with me and all return a locator from QRZ and the heading and distances are correct.

When you enter just the first two characters the actual call is not returned from any list so we can only add the locator from the Country/prefix list as shown below in screen shot 1.

The next screen shot shows the call entry completed and now that the locator is in the locator field the distance and heading are correct - I live in Exxex so correct = For me!

We are in a catch 22 situation.

1. If we don't return the Country/Prefix file locator when no locator is entered, for whatever reason, we are lambasted by users with beams because they don't have a heading for the country they are trying to work.

2. If we use the Country/prefix file locator when a locator is not available then users seeing incorrect locators for their own country tell us we have a bug!

So because in the majority of cases users require a beam heading to another country we do it this way.

[G4POP]

Hello Terry

I've just registered and now tried using HamQTH and it's exactly the same. 134.1 miles every time for G and M stations, and 2E0 stations also.

My previous logging program was nGenLog, which is still installed, but no longer in production and is not supported anymore. I've given up with it because despite doing regular back-ups, I lost my entire log with at Christmas, never to be recovered.

Thanks for your help Terry.

73

Mick
M0GWD

Have you changed the settings menu to HamQTH entered your password and then saved the settings - Please then restart the program.

HamQTH works fine for me.

If it still does not work sent me an email with either your Skype user name or phone number and I will contact you direct

[M0GWD]

Hello Terry

All sorted now thanks to your expert support. For the benefit of other users, here is the resolution to the incorrect distance issue that I had.
As part of the distance calculation, one (there are others) of the requirements is for the program to look up via HamQTH or QRZ the Locator of the station being logged.
For QRZ you must be a subscriber (not a free user) of QRZ. Alternatively register with HamQTH (which is free) which is what Terry advised me to do.

In Settings, Options, Settings 1 tab, ensure that HamQTH is enabled and that you have entered your HamQTH User and password.
Also tick the top 4 boxes on the right, from Use Clublog Exception Information down. In the Station Info ensure you have the My Locator details correct and the Country information correct at the bottom. Then save which closes the window.

Then back at the main setting menu - tick Enable Auto Update,
Also from the main settings menu, load each of the five databases. When done choose File and Exit.

Then start the program again. Log4OM all now OK for me distance wise, unless of course the station being logged has not entered his locator in HamQTH!

Terry - many thanks for the excellent level of support that you provide. Great program.

73

Mick
M0GWD

[G4POP]

Another happy satisfied customer