ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, checks an LoTW digital certificate application.
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 2, 2003--"Logbook of the World" (LoTW) --the League's new QSL-cardless awards and contact credit system--has proven to be a big hit in the amateur community. LoTW opened September 15 to accept digital certificate applications. Since the first digital certificates were e-mailed to users September 22, LoTW has acquired nearly 2100 registered participants. Another 2500 or so applications are pending, and the QSO database of uploaded logs now is approaching 8 million contacts--nearly 1 million of them uploaded within a day after the first certificates went out.
ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, checks an LoTW digital certificate application. |
"Certainly the number of Qs that we've gotten is well above what we expected at this point," said ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, who has been sharing duties with Assistant to the CEO David Patton, NN1N, as point man for LoTW. "The most surprising thing is that we've gotten so many old logs. People over the years have been entering their old logs from the 1950s on into the computer, and we didn't anticipate that."
LoTW is open to all, and applying for a digital certificate is the first step toward taking advantage of the system. The digital certificate authenticates the user's identity.
The More the Merrier
ARRL will maintain the already huge--and growing--repository of log data from casual operators, DXers, contesters and major DXpeditions. LoTW will be able to provide quick QSO credit for awards programs by identifying contact matches within submitted log data. Registered participants then will be able to apply LoTW-confirmed QSO credits toward ARRL awards, such as DXCC, WAS and VUCC.
QST "How's DX?" Editor Bernie McClenny, W3UR, reports he's already uploaded three logs worth of data--a combined QSO total of 23,063--and came up with 79 "hits" or matches. While McClenny says he still enjoys collecting QSL cards and would want one from any new entity that might come on the DXCC list today, "I think for the future for any band countries, I will try to confirm these via the new LoTW and save my postage for something else."
"As the old saying goes, try it, you'll like it!" McClenny commented in a recent edition of his newsletter, The Daily DX.
Work continues on the last major LoTW component--the Web pages to apply LoTW confirmations toward ARRL-sponsored awards. Mills expects that LoTW also will one day provide contact credits for non-ARRL programs. "Major award sponsors have expressed interest in using LoTW records, and details are pending," he said.
The key to the ultimate success of LoTW is for users to upload as much log data as possible. The more contacts in the database, the better the chances of a QSO match.
LoTW eventually will be able to search users' DXCC records and find new credits automatically. The program also will provide full viewing of users' DXCC records, automatically alert users to new awards achieved and offer comprehensive support for many other awards.
Growing Pains
While for the most part LoTW's inauguration has gone smoothly, Mills said problems have come up. One recurring difficulty has arisen when users who believe they've made an error in their initial application alter or wipe out their digital certificates and submit another application. "That's basically fatal," Mills said.
"When you create a request for a digital certificate and send it to us, we start processing it," Mills explained. "The process of making the request generates what's known as a 'private key,' and when ARRL sends the digital certificate back to the applicant, it has to find that 'private key.'"
The bottom line, Mills said, is that LoTW permits just one digital certificate request per call sign. "If you then create a new request, you void the first one, and the certificate we send back won't match." Mills advises that once users apply for a certificate, they should not attempt to alter it or create another request. Any errors, he points out, can be corrected later.
For US users, the first certificate has to be for a current call sign that's in the FCC database. After you get the certificate, you can request additional certificates for old call signs that are no longer assigned to you without going through the password process.
LoTW Fees
While obtaining a digital certificate is free to all, LoTW will charge on a per-credit basis to apply credits toward awards. "Logbook of the World is an alternative to collecting QSL cards by mail," Mills said. According to the fee schedule posted this week, the more contact credits you purchase, the lower the per-credit cost. The fees, in increments of 50, 100, 250 and 500, range from 22.5 cents per credit for 50 credits to 15 cents per credit for 500 credits. Users may purchase credits in advance, Mills noted, but LoTW fees do not also cover award fees, which remain separate.
"It turns out that this is a much cheaper way to collect credits for DXCC," Mills asserted, noting that the cost of cards, envelopes and postage can run as high as $3 or $4 for direct QSLing, including return postage, and 75 cents or more via the bureau for each card you get back.
Will LoTW change the face of traditional QSLing? "We don't really know yet how QSLing will change," Mills said. "The concept of electronic QSLing was coming, and the only way we saw to implement it satisfactorily was to do it ourselves." ARRL Web and Software Development Department Manager Jon Bloom, KE3Z, has been handling software development and updating for LoTW.
 Widespread use of Logbook of the World could mean less manual QSL card checking for DXCC and other awards. |
McClenny says he doesn't think LoTW will keep amateurs from exchanging QSL cards. "I have worked every country on the DXCC and obtained a QSL for each one," he says.
Meanwhile, as the LoTW database continues to balloon with new log data showing up by the hour, Mills, Patton and Bloom have been hustling to handle support questions and updating the Web support information as new questions or issues arise. There have been two updates to the TQSL software to address bugs and to make it more difficult for users to inadvertently delete certificates or keys that cannot be replicated.
"Overall, we are very happy with the progress and user acceptance," Mills said.
This week, EchoLink announced that it would accept ARRL's LoTW's digital certificates to authenticate new users. The Amateur Radio Internet linking system says prospective EchoLink users may submit LoTW certificates as an alternative to a copy of their amateur license. "System security is critical, and all new EchoLink users must be validated before being allowed access," said EchoLink developer Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD.
Mills' article, "Introducing Logbook of the World," appears in the October issue of QST.
Logging software developers can obtain documentation and a Windows DLL library--as well as complete source code for the TQSL software--at the SourceForge Web site.
News and announcements will be posted to the Logbook of the World Web site.
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