howto:raccontests
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- | ====== RAC Contests Log ====== | ||
- | This year was my first time participating in the RAC Canada Day contest on my own. It was a lot of fun and also very instructive. | ||
- | |||
- | First, everything you need to know about the RAC contests (either the Canada Day or the Winter Day) is located on the [[https:// | ||
- | |||
- | ===== Logs ===== | ||
- | |||
- | At the end of the contest, logs must be submitted to RAC. They will accept paper logs for submissions with less than 100 entries, but they really prefer electronic logs, which must be formatted as Cabrillo. | ||
- | |||
- | A Cabrillo file is really just plain text file formatted in a very specific way. For more information, | ||
- | * This {{https:// | ||
- | * The [[https:// | ||
- | |||
- | For example, here's a copy of my Cabrillo file (with only a few entries as example): | ||
- | < | ||
- | < | ||
- | START-OF-LOG: | ||
- | CREATED-BY: RAC_Contests.ods v2020.07.04 by VA7FI | ||
- | CALLSIGN: VA7FI | ||
- | LOCATION: BC | ||
- | CONTEST: RAC CANADA DAY | ||
- | CATEGORY-OPERATOR: | ||
- | CATEGORY-BAND: | ||
- | CATEGORY-MODE: | ||
- | CATEGORY-POWER: | ||
- | CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: | ||
- | CLAIMED-SCORE: | ||
- | CLUB: Sun Coast Amateur Radio Club Society | ||
- | NAME: Patrick Truchon | ||
- | ADDRESS: REDACTED | ||
- | ADDRESS-CITY: | ||
- | ADDRESS-STATE-PROVINCE: | ||
- | ADDRESS-POSTALCODE: | ||
- | ADDRESS-COUNTRY: | ||
- | EMAIL: va7fi@rbox.me | ||
- | OPERATORS: @VA7FI | ||
- | SOAPBOX: First Canada Day contest on my own. Lots of fun! | ||
- | QSO: 14186 PH 2020-07-01 0008 VA7FI 59 BC VE3PJ 59 ON | ||
- | QSO: 14198 PH 2020-07-01 0012 VA7FI 59 BC WB0TEV | ||
- | QSO:146520 PH 2020-07-01 0112 VA7FI 59 BC VE7DX 59 BC | ||
- | QSO: 14211 PH 2020-07-01 0139 VA7FI 59 BC N8OO 59 201 | ||
- | QSO: 14152 PH 2020-07-01 0148 VA7FI 59 BC VE2CJR | ||
- | QSO: 14165 PH 2020-07-01 0159 VA7FI 59 BC VE6RAC | ||
- | END-OF-LOG: | ||
- | </ | ||
- | </ | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | The first 21 lines give RAC all the information they need about the operator. | ||
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- | RAC does NOT want this emailed to them in the body of the email. | ||
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- | Regular contesters use logging programs which can generate these files while providing many bells and whistles during the contest to facilitate the logging process. | ||
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- | But since I'm not a regular contester and I didn't have time to familiarize myself with a logging program that would run under GNU/Linux, I simply used a spreadsheet to log my entries and tweaked it as the day went on to add my points and check for duplicate stations. | ||
- | |||
- | Here are a few introductory videos I made to explain how to use the spreadsheet, | ||
- | |||
- | {{ youtube> | ||
- | \\ \\ | ||
- | {{ youtube> | ||
- | \\ \\ | ||
- | {{ youtube> | ||
- | \\ \\ | ||
- | Here is the link to {{ : | ||
- | |||
- | I've licensed it under a Creative Commons [[https:// | ||
- | * Run the scripts for any purpose. | ||
- | * Study and modify the scripts. | ||
- | * Copy the scripts to help others. | ||
- | * Improve the scripts, and release the improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. | ||
- | |||
- | Provided that you: | ||
- | * Attribute the work to me by linking to < | ||
- | * Distribute any derivative work under the same license. | ||
- | |||
- | Here's a copy of the code that generates the Cabrillo file: | ||
- | < | ||
- | <code VBScript> | ||
- | REM ***** BASIC ***** | ||
- | |||
- | sub cabrillo | ||
- | 'Get directory path from spreadsheet location. This will be used to create | ||
- | Dim path as String | ||
- | | ||
- | path = Tools.Strings.DirectoryNameoutofPath(ThisComponent.url, | ||
- | |||
- | ' | ||
- | dim Doc as object | ||
- | Doc = ThisComponent | ||
- | | ||
- | | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | 'Note that for getCellByPosition(x, | ||
- | |||
- | ' | ||
- | | ||
- | | ||
- | |||
- | 'Open MyCallsign.log and get ready to write to it | ||
- | num = FreeFile() | ||
- | open filename for output as #num | ||
- | |||
- | 'Read " | ||
- | for i = 0 to 18 ' | ||
- | print #num, Sheet2.getCellByPosition(0, | ||
- | next | ||
- | ' | ||
- | print #num, Sheet2.getCellByPosition(0, | ||
- | |||
- | | ||
- | if Len(Soapbox) > 70 then | ||
- | truncated = " | ||
- | Soapbox = Left(Soapbox, | ||
- | Msgbox(" | ||
- | endif | ||
- | |||
- | print #num, Sheet2.getCellByPosition(0, | ||
- | |||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | | ||
- | |||
- | | ||
- | | ||
- | |||
- | | ||
- | |||
- | 'read " | ||
- | i = 2 ' | ||
- | UTC = " | ||
- | while UTC <> "" | ||
- | Freq = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(0, | ||
- | Freq = Format(Freq, | ||
- | Freq = space(6 - Len(Freq)) & Freq ' | ||
- | |||
- | UTC = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(1, | ||
- | |||
- | Callsign = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(2, | ||
- | Callsign = Callsign & space(13 - Len(Callsign)) | ||
- | |||
- | RST = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(3, | ||
- | RST = space(3 - Len(RST)) & RST 'pad RST to 3 digits | ||
- | |||
- | Exch = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(4, | ||
- | |||
- | RSTGiven = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(5, | ||
- | RSTGiven = space(3 - Len(RSTGiven)) & RSTGiven | ||
- | |||
- | Mode = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(6, | ||
- | |||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | 'QSO: 14165 PH 2003-07-01 1044 VA1ABC | ||
- | ' | ||
- | |||
- | logline = " | ||
- | logline = logline & Freq & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & Mode & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & ContestDate & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & UTC & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & MyCallsign | ||
- | logline = logline & RSTGiven & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & MyProvince & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & Callsign & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & RST & " " | ||
- | logline = logline & Exch | ||
- | |||
- | print #num, logline | ||
- | |||
- | i = i + 1 ' | ||
- | UTC = Sheet1.getCellByPosition(1, | ||
- | |||
- | ' | ||
- | wend | ||
- | |||
- | print #num, " | ||
- | |||
- | close #num | ||
- | |||
- | msgbox (" | ||
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- | |||
- | |||
- | end sub | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | sub License | ||
- | |||
- | ' This spreadsheet and its script by Patrick Truchon < | ||
- | ' is licensed under a Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 | ||
- | ' Unported License. | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' You are free to: | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' Provided that you: | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | ' | ||
- | |||
- | end sub | ||
- | </ | ||
- | </ |