Marty,
What I do is use Delorme Street Atlas, which does now cover Canada, to locate the Lat/Lon of city centers. Then use one of the Lat/Lon to grid converters (there is a good one on the ARRL site) to convert to Gridsquare (the 4 character grid is good enough). I believe you can also do the same thing with Microsoft Streets or any topological maps. If you don't have access to any maps or mapping software that gives you Lat/Lon, send me a private mail with a list of cities.

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73, Rich - W3ZJ

Now why didn't I think of that?? I guess because I didn't really want to know how that grid square thing worked. Back to the old books again.

Thanks.
Marty

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K4VM Marty

If I put my portable call sign under my former call signs (two lines below) W6ZF/1 or W6ZF/W1 on the face of my eQSL card design will eQSL credit be given to stations that work me when I used either portable identifier in contests?

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W6ZF James J. Martin Jr.

NO!!! Absolutely not.

Your card is just a graphic image that eQSL can not interpret. It just displays the image. What you need to do is create separate attached accounts for each of your portable calls and upload the appropriate log to each account. To do that, visit the "My Accounts" section and follow the instructions for creating attached accounts. Note that each account can and should have it's own eQSL card showing the appropriate call.

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73, Rich - W3ZJ

Okay. Thank you. I did just that for one of the periods in question. Is there a way to transfer eqsl's from one account to the other? Or do I need to delete them in one and resubmit the ADI file into the other? Thanks.

Post Script: Do I have to create a portable account each different time I use a portable call or can I use the same start and ending dates to coincide with my "Home" call?

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W6ZF-JJ
Edited by W6ZF James J. Martin Jr. on Mar 3, 2006 at 02:29 PM
Edited by W6ZF James J. Martin Jr. on Mar 3, 2006 at 05:01 PM

Each and every time you operate from a different location, where you know that the recipient of your eQSL might care where you operated from, you need to have a separate account under your main account. For example, if you operate from Podunk, ME from March 1 thru 3, and for some reason people care that you are in Podunk (County hunters?), then you CLOSE your main account on Feb 28, and OPEN a new account on March 1, which ends on March 3, and you enter all the pertinent information for your "new" QTH. Then you upload your ADI file to this Podunk account for dates March 1-3.

Then if you go back to your main QTH on March 4, you open a "New" account for March 4, showing your Main QTH information. The logs do NOT overlap.

I don't see any problems with whether the other station calls you "k4vm" or "k4vm/7". It doesn't appear to matter. The main call and the date directs the eQSL to your correct account.

I believe you need to delete the calls from the wrong account (you can't transfer them). Then correct the closing date on the "wrong" account. Then create a "new" account with correct dates and QTH. Then re-submit your ADI file to this new account.

Are we having fun yet??
Marty

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K4VM Marty

Thanks Marty. The fun meter is pegged.
Unless I'm doing something incorrectly, looks like the system allows us to have overlapping dates. I kept my main account as it is and created an attached /W1 account with a 18 Feb 06 start date and a 20 Feb 06 end date. Within a short while there were 20 eQSL's which arrived into the /W1 account. Now I have to sort out the dates for the /1 use and create an account for that (those). I decided to run this latest contest using W6ZF without the portable identifier. The contest rules state you must show your geographic location in your call but I don't see very many doing it and things are going pretty well so far as it is. When I first got this call I kept having to repeat myself but now that doesn't seem to be a problem as my call appears in more index files.
Still learned something from this forum though. Thanks for the information.

JJ, W6ZF aka Marty (hi)

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W6ZF James J. Martin Jr.

Hmmm. The overlaping dates perhaps is something new. How does eQSL know which call to log the incoming eQSL's to, if the dates overlap and if your call is the same (as say a mobile operation, going from county to county, or call area to call area and the sending party doesn't include the portable designator) ?

Something else to puzzle over. And NO this confusion is NOT fun!! I have not yet entered my logs for my Quebec trip several years ago. It is not in the computer. And I have too many other FUN things to do!! (HI).
Marty-to-Marty

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K4VM Marty

You said: "For example, if you operate from Podunk, ME from March 1 thru 3, and for some reason people care that you are in Podunk (County hunters?), then you CLOSE your main account on Feb 28, and OPEN a new account on March 1, which ends on March 3, and you enter all the pertinent information for your "new" QTH. Then you upload your ADI file to this Podunk account for dates March 1-3."

That is correct, but I hope people won't confuse your use of the term "close" with closing the account. Don't do that. What you really mean is to set the END date of that account to February 28. You can still get in and out of that account, you are just setting the cutoff date for all incoming cards to February 28.

Then you said: "I don't see any problems with whether the other station calls you "k4vm" or "k4vm/7". It doesn't appear to matter. The main call and the date directs the eQSL to your correct account."

That is not accurate, and it's also a source of confusion. If someone sends a card to K4VM/7, it will not show up in any K4VM accounts regardless of date. You would need to have a K4VM/7 account in order to see it. Attach that account to your K4VM account. There is not really the concept of a "main account". Basically all accounts (callsigns) are just linked together and they all have the same "status".

What this means is that those people that get really creative and build an account called "N5UP/Field Day" will never ever ever see any cards.

Overlapping dates are OK if the callsigns are different. (K4VM and K4VM/7 are considered different!)
Overlapping dates are a disaster waiting to happen if the callsigns are identical. Avoid them at all cost, because they are a ***** to discombobulate afterward. My volunteer support team will thank you.

If you need help getting your accounts distributed correctly, contact support from any of the eQSL.cc main web pages. You can also try the new beta account management screen at http://www.eQSL.cc/QSLCard/AccountManager.cfm. It shows all your linked accounts in chronological order by callsign and helps you set the dates and distribute orphaned cards.

73,
Dave N5UP

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Of course, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong!

73,
Dave Morris, N5UP
Edited by N5UP Dave Morris on Mar 6, 2006 at 08:52 AM

Not the first time I have been wrong. Sorry about that. And I thought I had it all straight in my fuzzy little brain. Guess not.
Marty

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K4VM Marty

Dave you stated that:
"Overlapping dates are OK if the callsigns are different."

Are W6ZF and W6ZF/W1 different call signs in that sense?

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W6ZF/W1 James J. Martin Jr.

This means I have to enter each log again, with its portable/mobile designator in place. Yuck.
Marty

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K4VM Marty

Yes. I have registered my original calls M3TZO and M3TZO/P as well as my current call 2E0TZO and 2E0TZO/P as are recognised independently by the system.

In a way I think is a good Idea. My only problem if I ever for to Scotland, Wales, Jersey, etc as would become 2M0TZO, 2W0TZO or 2J0TZO I guess with /P. Should I register these now, I wonder???

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2E0TZO Paul Gibson

Dave N5UP, could you edit the link in your post as the period (fullstop) at the end of the link in some browsers (like mine) brings up an error page. http://www.eQSL.cc/QSLCard/AccountManager.cfm

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2E0TZO Paul Gibson

OK, I've edited that link, Paul.

Here's one way to think about it:

Imagine someone else is sending you an eQSL. What callsign are they going to have in their logbook for your station? Will they have logged you with a portable designator? Did you use one in the QSO? If not, then the eQSL is probably coming to your base callsign without any slashes in it. If the FCC hadn't messed everything up by allowing us to use our base callsigns without identifying ourselves as portable or mobile, things would be a lot easier. But now the rules are so lax that it is difficult to know what someone's log might contain. If you operate CW or a digital mode, things may be easier than if you operated voice, where the other guy might not have copied your callsign down with all those slashes.

Make sure you have a different account with the proper country, county, grid square, zone, state, etc. for each QTH where you operated. This will allow us to create awards in the future, and your eQSL will be accurate and usable to all the recipients. If you operated IRLP or EchoLink, make sure your logging program identifies them as such. We have a Grid Square award that is blocked right now from being implemented because there are so many EchoLink and IRLP eQSLs that are not identified correctly, and that would screw up the award.

Yes, it's a little more work to set up separate accounts for each QTH, but remember, Garbage-IN-Garbage-OUT. The more accurate your log is, the more accurate the other guys' information is going to be as well. And you can make up different QSL designs for each account, if you want to.

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Of course, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong!

73,
Dave Morris, N5UP