Fields for Award Information
SWISSLOG has several predefined fields that contain information for specific awards.
Therefore, if there's a field already defined, you should use it. Most of
these predefined fields are located in the PQTH table, which contains
the information about the QTH of the QSO partner. These fields are displayed
the 'QTH' page in the QSO-Window.
Examples of these fields
are:
DXCC, IOTA, WAE, ITU, WAZ, Region, Sub-Region
If you cannot use any of the predefined fields, you should use one of the fields that are provided for variable use. These are the fields, Spec, Diploma 1 thru 15 and Special 1 thru 15. If those fields are not adequate, you can create a Variable Statistic – this adds a new field to the SWISSLOG DB.
By convention, the fields 1-10 are reserved for standard statistics and the fields 11-15 can be used for private statistics.
To make the correct choice, you have to know if the information the field will contain is related to the QSO or to the call sign (station) of the QSO partner.
If the information is station (call sign) related, you would use a field that is stored in the Callbook table. These are the fields labeled Special 1 thru Special 4, which are displayed on the Station page in the QSO-Window. Examples of information that might be entered in these fields are Ten-Ten numbers, DIG numbers and/or any other club membership.
If the information were QSO related, you would use a field
that
is stored PQTH (QTH of the QSO partner)
or, the Logbook table. These are the predefined fields,
such as IOTA, Region, Sub-Region etc. or,
Diploma 11 thru 15 fields used for variable use. As an example, if you are
interested in working the YL-DXCC, you can enter 'YL-DXCC' in field labeled Diploma
11.
I would suggest entering all region dependant information such as
DOK, US-county, ADL etc. into the Sub_Region
field (P_Sub_Region). On the other hand, you should put the US-state
into the Region field (P_Region). By the way, this is done
automatically if you are using the international callbook CD. Another
example, The Swiss
Canton could be entered either in the Region or, in the Sub_Region
field; however, it is important to be consistent and always use the same field.
A great number of predefined Statistics are delivered with Swisslog. Please see Predefined Statistics, this is an overview about the Statistics, the fields used, and the selection criteria.
Multiple uses of single fields
There may be a situation where you
would like to track more
diplomas than there are variable fields. This is not a
problem in SWISSLOG because the same field can be used for multiple purposes.
However, pre-requisite for multiple uses is an exact definition of what the field
contains based on the contents of other fields in the QSO.
Example:
You would like to track three diplomas – each of them is specific to one
country. You can use the same field for all three diplomas because it is possible
to define exactly which diploma is applicable to the QSO, based on the contents of
the DXCC field. Since each country has a different DXCC, you would use the
DXCC field to select the QSO's for the diplomas and statistics you want.
You can put the information for the German DOK, the US-county and the
French Department (DFM) into the sub-region field because:
only QSO's with a DXCC of DL will contain DOK's
only QSO's with a DXCC of W will contain US-counties
only QSO's with a DXCC of F will contain DDFM's
Fields for variable use are fields that SWISSLOG has not predefined
the contents. You can enter whatever information you like however, it is
important to be consistent and always use the same field!
There are 10 such fields:
Diploma Fields in the QTH-Tab
These fields should be used for
information related to the QTH of the QSO partner. As an example, if the award
rules allow you to work the same station from different QTH's and each
of these QSO's count separately, then you should use one of these
fields.
These fields are stored in the table PQTH
Special Fields in
the Station-Tab
These fields should be used for
information related to the call sign (station) of the QSO partner. As an
example, if the award rules require:
a certain number of stations in a specific area must be worked and
the same station counts only once even if it was worked from different QTH's
then you should use one of the Special Fields in the Station-Tab.
Example: TEN-TEN
and DIG numbers, or other club membership type numbers. Normally a club
membership number belongs to the call sign owner; while the DOK number
or US-county information is part of the QSO (i.e. a station can be active
from different counties or DOK's).
These fields are stored in the Callbook table
Spec Field (common
field of the Add QSO's mask)
This is actually a legacy from
the DOS version of SWISSLOG however, it can be very useful. It is
stored for each QSO in the logbook DB. Therefore, it can be used for cases
where each QSO counts separately, even if worked them from the same QTH.