LOTW FT8

[KE2FDB]

I have LOTW set up, and when I download QSLs, it seems to mark things as "X" for most entries. But for FT8 contacts that are not within the same minute, it seems to think these are separate contacts and lists them as not being in the log. My impression was that there was a 30min window for logging contacts with LOTW, but it seems like RUMlogNG sees these entries as separate? (From what I can tell, all FT8 contacts logged within the same minute are marked properly.)

I've started manually updating them as "X" when they come in. Do I have something configured incorrectly? Any better way of handling this?

[DL2RUM]

Something is wrong in your work flow. The QSO time in LoTW has to match the QSO Time in RL.
Why do you have a difference?

[KE2FDB]

I think these are the incoming QSLs that are slightly different? (Using Command+Option+I) When they don't match, I can see that they're just in the next minute compared to the one that's in my log. From what I can tell, my rig time is accurate & I can make FT8 contacts just fine.

Is there an easy way for me to go back and figure out the ones that I didn't manually update? Or, if I can have the app pull all QSLs again as though they were new?

[DL2RUM]

You can load the QSLs again, see the LoTW Preferences. But this will not change the facts. The question remains: Why do you have different times in your log?

[KE2FDB]

I'll try to grab some screenshots the next time this happens & post them.

I assume this is happening because RUMlogNG is looking for a match down to the minute, but if the QSO was logged near the minute mark, the other station's clock may be off by a little bit, and they may log it in the next minute.

But from what I can tell, LoTW just needs the QSOs to be within 30min of each other for them to be a match, not exact: https://lotw.arrl.org/lotw-help/UpdatingConfirmations/ Does RUMlogNG always look for an exact match?

Also I looked in the LoTW section of Preferences, but I can't find anything relating to downloading logs again? What should I be looking for?

Thanks!

[KE2FDB]

I figured out how to adjust the last QSO date in the settings to get it to download them all again - here's what I see in red with the FT8 QSOs. I've attached a screenshot. (I hope it works - first time trying on this server)

[KE2FDB]

I've gone through and updated the records in RUMlogNG, and when I set back the last imported date in the preferences and re-run the import command, it does seem to match up with the records as expected. So it seems like it's matching down to the minute. Most were off by exactly one minute, with my record being behind what I received from LoTW, and some were off by as much as two minutes.

For extra context, I import my FT8 logs from the ADIF file that WSJT-x generates, and my system clock is set via apple's servers. I've never had an issue making FT8 contacts with offset times. I wonder if FT8 logs the end of the QSO as the time, or if it logs when you actually click the button to save the log. My guess is the latter, which would explain why I'm sometimes off by as much as two minutes.

Shouldn't RUMlogNG match QSOs as +-15min, like LoTW does? Is there a particular reason it's matching to the minute? Now that I understand what's happening I can work around it, but it does seem like it should work slightly differently?

[DL2RUM]

Again: Check your work flow!
You should have just one QSO time! When you make a QSO at 10:00:00 you have to log it at 10:00:00. QSOs sending to LoTW will show 10:00:00 and the QSL returning from LoTW will have the time stamp 10:00:00 as well.

In my setup RUMlog saves QSOs directly from WSJT-X using the timestamp from the log dialog. RUMlog sends QSO data to LoTW and I haven't had any problems with incoming QSLs.

[KE2FDB]

Thanks - I'll try some different variations and see if it's any better. I did finally set up UDP so it's now logging directly into RUMlogNG. Fingers crossed this fixes it!

Also, I did confirm that WSJT-X (and the imported QSO in RUMlogNG) is accurately logging the end time of the QSO, not the time that the log was saved. Which makes it extra strange that they're not perfectly lined up. I'll investigate further if it happens again.

[KE2FDB]

Unfortunately, it looks like I'm still getting syncing issues... Even with logs automatically being added to RUMlogNG via UDP, the LoTW records coming back are out of sync for some of them. It looks like they're anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute off.

I'm out of ideas for what I could change - the time on everything seems to be in sync on my end?