• LinkDXCCCredits

Linking DXCC Credits to Logged QSOs

DXKeeper can automatically link DXCC Credits and logged QSOs whose DXCC entities, Bands, Modes, Callsigns, and QSO Begin times match exactly. Entry errors made when a DXCC Credit was created will prevent an exact match, so DXKeeper enables you to manually link a DXCC Credit to a logged QSO so long as the two specify the same DXCC entity.

• a link between a DXCC Credit and a logged QSO whose DXCC entities, Bands, Modes, Callsigns, and QSO Begin times all match exactly is referred to as a perfect link

• a link between a DXCC Credit and a logged QSO whose DXCC entities, Bands and Modes match exactly is referred to as a link with a minor inconsistency (because their Callsigns and/or QSO Begin times don't match exactly)

• a link between a DXCC Credit and a logged QSO whose DXCC entities match exactly is referred to as a link with a major inconsistency (because their Bands and/or Modes don't match exactly)

To maintain the integrity of links between DXCC Credits and logged QSOs,

1. do not use the Modify QSOs panel to modify a QSO's App_DXKeeper_DXCCCreditNumber item

2. do not export a QSO to an ADIF or tab-delimited file, modify the contents of that QSO's App_DXKeeper_DXCCCreditNumber tag, and then import the modified QSO

If you suspect that links have been damaged, invoke the Repair function.

DXCC Credits

As described above, a DXCC Credit specifies 6 core items:

• Credit Number (ARRL-assigned) with C or L appended to identify card or LotW credits respectively

• Credit Entity
• Credit Band
• Credit Mode (PHONE, CW, DATA, or SATELLITE)
• Credit Callsign
• Credit Begin time (Card credits only specify a Begin date)

• Credit Duplicate (set to Y if the credit is a duplicate

To enable the linking of DXCC Credits and logged QSOs, DXKeeper

• provides a DXCC Credit Number item in each logged QSO (ADIF field name: App_DXKeeper_DXCCCreditNumber)

• associates 5 additional items with each downloaded DXCC Credit:
  • Link Status
  • QSO Band
  • QSO Mode
  • QSO Callsign
  • QSO Begin time

DXCC Credit Storage

DXKeeper stores DXCC Credits in a separate section of your log file. Thus backing up your log will backup your DXCC credits along with your QSOs and award progress. You can easily move all of this information from one PC to another if desired.

In the current version, DXKeeper creates a sub-folder named DXCC Award Credit and populates it with files created during the download process. DXKeeper's functions never reference these files after the download operation is completed, but these files left in place to support debugging and problem-solving activity. Modifying and deleting these files will do no harm, other than potentially eliminating evidence that would speed the resolution of a defect or of unexplained behavior. Eventually, the download operation will delete these files.

Links

When a DXCC Credit and a Logged QSO are linked,

• the Logged QSO's DXCC Credit Number item specifies the DXCC Credit's Credit Number

• the DXCC Credit's Link Status indicates the quality of the link (exact, minor discrepancies, major discrepancies)

• the DXCC Credit's four QSO items specify the logged QSO's band, mode, callsign, and begin date-and-time

An unlinked Logged QSO has an empty DXCC Credit Number item.

An unlinked DXCC Credit has its Link Status set to none, an empty QSO Band, QSO Mode, QSO Callsign, and QSO Begin items, e.g.

A linked DXCC Credit that exactly matches the logged QSO to which it's linked would look like this:

Besides facilitating the linkage between DXCC Credits and Logged QSOs, each DXCC Credit's four QSO items allow you to compensate for ARRL entry errors. Suppose the above DXCC Credit was posted with an incorrect Begin date:

Note that the Link Status is set to minor, and the QSO Date specifies the correct date. Here's a DXCC Credit posted with an incorrect mode:

Note that the Link Status is set to major, and the QSO Mode specifies the correct mode.

A downloaded DXCC Credit's Credit Band, Credit Mode, Credit Callsign, and Credit Begin time are thus never modified, and will always match the information maintained by the ARRL -- but you you can compensate for entry errors in DXCC Credits without waiting for the ARRL to make corrections. In fact, there's no reason to bother the ARRL by asking for the correction of minor errors in the DXCC Credit's callsign or date.

Other Topics

• Downloading DXCC Credits

• Analyzing DXCC Credits

• Automatically Linking DXCC Credits

• Manually Linking DXCC Credits

• Generating Credit-only QSOs

• Repairing DXCC Credits

• Logging

• QSLing

Post a question or suggestion on the DXLab Discussion Group

Managing DXCC Credits

Getting Started with Award Tracking

Getting Started with DXLab