US callsign lookups are assigned CQ zone 5 by default

[KK6DJC]

This doesn't appear to be a software issue, but more of a configuration problem, or more specifically an issue with one of the default configuration data sources.

If you configure Log4OM to use QRZ as a callsign lookup source, then when you enter a callsign in the Callsign field Log4OM queries QRZ.com to obtain the data that it has available, then fills in missing information using its own local sources.

It seems that unless a user has specifically entered the values in their QRZ entry, QRZ does not return values for ITU and CQ zones, even if the user has a QRZ subscription (HamQTH does return this information.) Which is another way of saying that when you are using QRZ as the lookup source, Log4OM (in almost all cases) does not get the ITU and CQ information from QRZ, but from a different source. I strongly suspect that this information is coming from the country.xml file which is located in the ~AppData\Roaming\Log4OM directory. I have updated the country.xml file via the Settings->Country Database->Download update facility, and also have auto updates enabled.

You can reproduce this easily. Configure Log4OM to use QRZ as a lookup source, pick a US callsign which should be in CQ zone 3 or 4, and enter the callsign in the Callsign text box. In the Country IOTA SOTA (F2) tab the CQ value will be 5, unless the user has explicitly specified the value on their QRZ entry. If you use HamQTH the CQ value will be correct, because HamQTH provides the CQ value and Log4OM uses it. One way to pick some callsigns to try is to go to QRZ.com, do a query by grid for DM12kw, which will list out a set of callsigns in the San Diego area (CQ zone 3.) You can confirm this by entering one of the callsigns in HamQTH.

If you look at the country.xml file, there is a single entry for the United States which has <CqZone>5</CqZone>. There are no entries in the file having <CqZone>3</CqZone> or <CqZone>4</CqZone>, which are other values used by North American stations. The url http://www.mapability.com/ei8ic/maps/cqzone.php shows the relationship between CQ zones 3, 4, and 5.

[G4POP]

Having been involved with Simon on HRD for ten years and for the last three years developing Log4om with Lele we are aware of zone issues with large entities like the USA that cover multiple zones.

The problem is that if the call sign owner does not enter his zone on the lookup engines we have no way to determine what zone he is in.

This issue is made even worse by the issue of vanity calls in the USA where we have calls related to places like Hawaii but the call holder lives somewhere on the East coast of the USA

When the U.S. Had regional call prefixes like W7 for West coast etc we could resolve this but as it is now there has to be some user participation to enter the correct zone when the call holder has not registered it with QRZ, Hamcall, HamQTH etc.

You can add to this issue that QRZ only provides the full information logged by the call holder if the person doing the lookup is a paid subscriber so information like grid reference etc is not available to the non paying user!

Now where's my crystal ball gone?