Importing ADIF and Tab-delimited Files

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The Import QSOs tabbed dialog enabled you to import QSOs from standard ADIF files: 

• Click the Start button, and use the file selector to choose the file containing the QSOs to be imported. The Progress panel provides a display of real-time statistics, as well as errors encountered

• Click the Abort button to terminate the import operation before it completes.

You can also import QSOs from non-standard ADIF files, and from tab-delimited files.

The ADIF specification precludes characters whose code is less than 32. Importing a file containing a character whose code is less than 32 can prematurely terminate the import process, preventing all QSOs in the file from being imported. If there is any possibility that the file you are importing contains characters with codes less than 32, enable the Ignore tags with binary data option, which will pre-scan the file to remove fields containing character codes less than 32.

When DXKeeper accepts a Log QSO command from another application, it is being imported and thus is subject to the Import Options described below unless stated otherwise. DXKeeper will initialize missing fields in such QSOs to default values.

To make it easy to view QSOs newly imported from a file, DXKeeper provides the option to automatically set the Select  item of each imported QSO to Y.  Before starting the import operation, however, you should set the Select  item of all existing QSOs to N by clicking the Import QSO tab's  Clear Select button.  After the import operation is complete Invoke the Sel filter to see only the imported QSOs in the Log Page Display.

If SpotCollector is running when an import operation completes, DXKeeper will direct it to automatically update the entries in the Spot Database to reflect advances in award progress. If you are planning to import several files, it will be more efficient to unchecked the Enable automatic updates box box in the Recomputation panel on the the Spot Database tab of SpotCollector's Config window, perform the imports, click SpotCollector's Recomp button, and then check the Enable automatic updates box box.

When importing a QSO record that does not specify an azimuth or distance field, DXKeeper computes these items if the QSO specifies sufficient information, including information obtained from a callbook lookup.

When importing a QSO record for a station in the United States, Alaska, or Hawaii, DXKeeper corrects frequent county misspellings, e.g. IL,Du Page => IL,DuPage. It also replaces counties that specify an independent city name with the name of the surrounding county, e.g. VA,Frankin => VA,Southampton.

Import Options  

Options available on this tab allow you to prevent the importing of duplicate QSOs,  import from non-standard ADIF files produced by other applications, recover or insert missing information, save errors to a file, and/or display a report showing any advances in award progress attributable to the imported QSOs:

General Options

• If you want each imported QSO's QSL_Sent_Via item set to 'B' (for "bureau") unless it specifies otherwise, check the Default to 'send via bureau' box. This option only applies to QSOs imported from a file; it does not apply to QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application.

• Check the Deduce missing items from entity, primary subdivision, and available databases box to have DXKeeper fill in missing items like Cont, CQ, ITU, ARRL Section, Primary Administrative Subdivision, and Secondary Administrative Subdivision  when they can be unambiguously determined from the DXCC entity and Primary Administrative Subdivision, a DXCC database query of the imported callsign, or an RDA database query (if installed) of the imported callsign

• Check the Query Callbook and available databases for missing items box to have DXKeeper lookup each imported QSO's callsign in the selected Callbook, the DXCC database, and the RDA database (if installed) and fill in any items not present in the imported QSO with information from these sources; this option will be disabled if no Callbook is currently selected.

• Check the Update LotW membership box to have DXKeeper determine whether the callsign of an imported QSO that does not indicate LoTW membership is an LotW member by consulting the LotW database; if so, the imported QSO's LotW Member item is set to Y, subject to the Maximum age of most recent LotW upload setting

• Check the Update eQSL membership box to have DXKeeper determine whether the callsign of an imported QSO that does not indicate eQSL Authenticity Guaranteed (AG) membership is an eQSL AG member by consulting the eQSL.cc database; if so, the imported QSO's eQSL Member item is set to Y.

• Check the Enable Override checking box to have DXKeeper check each imported callsign against the Override list maintained by DXView and SpotCollector. You can use Overrides to handle DX callsigns that do not conform to standard prefix allocations, or to provide specific location information for a station operating in a needed CQ zone, continent, grid square, or IOTA tag. If an imported Callsign matches an entry on the Override list that specifies a valid DXCC entity,

  • the imported QSO's DXCC entity, Region, Primary Administrative Subdivision, CQ, ITU, Cont, Grid 1, and IOTA items will be populated with their values specified in the Override entry; imported values for these items will be ignored

  • the imported QSO's Secondary Administrative Subdivision and ARRL Section items will be cleared; imported values for these items will be ignored

• Check the Set Select in imported QSOs to Y box to have the Select  item of each QSO imported from a file set to Y, thereby making it easy to later filter the Log Page Display to contain only the imported QSOs by invoking the Sel filter; its generally appropriate to set the Select item of all existing QSOs to N before performing the import so that when the import is complete, only newly-imported QSOs will have their Select items set to Y. This option only applies to QSOs imported from a file; it does not apply to QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application.

• Check the Create Mobile myQTHID box if you want DXKeeper to handle an imported QSO that doesn't specify a App_DXKeeper_My_QTHID field but does specify a MY_GRIDSQUARE field by constructing a myQTHID by appending the specified MY_GRIDSQUARE to the word mobile_ (e.g. mobile_CN87) and assigning the constructed  myQTHID to that QSO

• If you check the Guarantee unique start times box, DXKeeper assumes that the ADIF file being imported contains QSOs in ascending order of start time, and compares imported QSO's start time to that of its immediate predecessor; if a QSO's start time is the same or earlier than that of its predecessor's start time, the imported QSO's start time is set to that of its predecessor plus 5 seconds, time and the imported end time is set to 1 second after the start time -- thereby guaranteeing that each imported QSO has a unique start time. This option should only be enabled when necessary, as it can significantly reduce the rate at which QSOs are imported. This option should not be used when importing an ADIF file whose QSOs are not sorted in ascending order of start time.

• If the file you are importing contains tags contains binary data, you must either check the Ignore tags with binary data box or select Import From Logic; otherwise, DXKeeper will be unable to properly import the file. The maximum size of a file imported with this option enabled is 2 gigabytes. This option only applies to QSOs imported from a file; it does not apply to QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application.

• Check the Produce and Display Award Progress Report box to 

  • track all changes to award progress attributable to the QSOs imported from a file, subject to the objectives specified in the DXCC/Top Bands & Modes panel; this option only applies to QSOs imported from a file; it does not apply to QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application.

  • generate a report in a file whose pathname is created by appending _progress.txt to the pathname of the file being imported (over-writing any existing file with that pathname)

  • display the generated report; award progress is subject to the objectives you've specified in the DXCC Bands & Modes, Marathon, and WAZ Bands & Modes panels on the Configuration window's Awards tab

• Check the Report import errors in error file checkbox to record all errors encountered while importing QSOs from a file. The error report is created in a file whose pathname is created by appending _error.txt to the pathname of the file being imported, over-writing any existing file with that pathname whether or not new errors are actually reported; if errors are detected, the error report will be displayed when the import operation finished. Note that import errors are also displayed in the Progress panel, but to a maximum of 65,000 characters. Entries in the error file generated by imported QSOs considered illegal are begin with the word illegal. This option only applies to QSOs imported from a file; it does not apply to QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application.

Duplicate Checking

Duplicate checking prevents the importing of QSOs from a file that are already present in your log, but significantly reduces the rate at which QSOs are imported. If you are importing QSOs into an empty log file, or are certain that the file to be imported contains no duplicate QSOs, then uncheck the Check Duplicates on Import box. Note duplicate checking is only performed on imported files; it is not performed on QSOs received from other applications via DDE or TCP.

If you are importing into a populated log and wish to prevent the importing of duplicate QSOs, check the Check Duplicates on Import box.

• Specify the range (in minutes) that defines a duplicate QSO

  • 0 means an imported QSO must exactly match a logged QSO's begin date/time  to be considered a duplicate

  • a number larger than 0 specifies a range before and after the imported QSO's begin date/time; if a matching logged QSO's begin date/time falls in this range, the imported QSO will be considered a duplicate

• If the  Consider primary and secondary administrative subdivisions box is checked,  an imported QSO is only rejected if its primary and secondary administrative subdivisions also match

• If the  Consider gridsquares box is checked,  an imported QSO is only rejected if its gridsquare also matches the existing QSO's Grid 1 item

• If the Merge information from each duplicate into the existing QSO box is checked, information not present in an existing QSO is updated with information harvested from an imported QSO that duplicates it

Substitution Options

If the file you are importing contains QSOs that may be missing Station Callsign, Operator Callsign, Owner Callsign, or myQTH ID fields, use the options in this panel to populate missing items with the default values you've specified. These options only applies to QSOs imported from a file; they does not apply to QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application.

• Check the Substitute ... for missing station callsigns box to populate missing Station Callsigns with the callsign specified in the Station callsign text box in the Default panel of DXKeeper's configuration window.

• Check the Substitute ... for missing operator callsigns box to populate missing Operator Callsigns with the callsign specified in the Operator callsign text box in the Default panel of DXKeeper's configuration window.

• Check the Substitute ... for missing owner callsigns box to populate missing Owner Callsigns with the callsign specified in the Owner callsign text box in the Default panel of DXKeeper's configuration window.

• Check the Substitute for missing myQTH IDs box to place the selected myQTH Identifier into the myQTH ID item of any imported QSO whose ADIF record lacks an APP_DXKEEPER_MY_QTHID tag.

• Check the Substitute default Transmit Power for missing TX_PWR box to set a QSO's transmit power item to the value specified on the Configuration window's Defaults tab when importing a QSO that does not specify a TX_PWR tag; the specified value is determined from the Default Transmit Power by Band, Default Transmit Power by Mode, and Transmit power settings.

• Check the Substitute default Antenna Path for missing ANT_PATH box to set a QSO's Antenna Path item to the value specified on the Configuration window's Defaults tab when importing a QSO that does not specify an ANT_PATH tag.

• Check the Substitute default Propagation mode for missing PROP_MODE box to set a QSO's Propagation Mode item to the value specified on the Configuration window's Defaults tab when importing a QSO that does not specify an PROP_MODE tag

  • if Default Propagation Mode by band is not enabled, set the QSO's Propagation Mode item to the value selected in the Propagation Mode selector

  • if Default Propagation Mode by band is enabled, set the QSO's Propagation Mode item to the value specified in the Default Propagation Mode by band panel's HF, VHF, or UHF selectors as a function of the imported QSO's band
    

• Check the Substitute default SFI, A, and K for missing SFI, A, and K box to set a QSO's SFI, A, and K items to the values specified on the Configuration window's Defaults tab when importing a QSO that does not specify all three of these items

Note that

• if an imported QSO is missing a Station Callsign field but contains an Operator field, and both the Substitute ... for missing station callsigns and Replace Station Callsign with boxes are unchecked, then the contents of the Operator field will be imported as the Station Callsign

• if an imported QSO is missing an Owner Callsign field, and the Substitute ... for missing owner callsigns box is unchecked, then 

  • if the imported QSO contains a Station Callsign field, its contents will be imported as the Owner Callsign

  • if the imported QSO does not contain a Station Callsign field but does contain an Operator field, the Operator field's contents will be imported as the Owner Callsign.

Replacement Options

if you are importing a contest log file, the following options may be useful. These options only apply to QSOs imported from a file; they does not apply to QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application.

• if you check the Station Callsign box, the Station Callsign of every imported QSO will be replaced with the specified value.

• if you check the Operator Callsign box, the Operator Callsign of every imported QSO will be replaced with the specified value.

• if you check the Owner Callsign box, the Owner Callsign of every imported QSO will be replaced with the specified value.

• if you check the Contest ID box, the Contest ID of every imported QSO will be replaced with the specified value.

• If you check the State, Province, & Section box and set the selector to its right to an ADIF tag (or a non-standard tag present in the ADIF file you are importing), the field of each imported QSO designated by that tag will be inspected word by word for a Grid Square or for 

  • a US State abbreviation (if the QSO's DXCC entity is USA, Alaska, or Hawaii)

  • a Canadian Province abbreviation (if the QSO's DXCC entity is Canada)

  • an ARRL section abbreviation (if the QSO's DXCC entity is the USA, Alaska, Hawaii, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, US Pacific possessions, or Canada)

  If a grid square, US State, Canadian Province, and/or ARRL section abbreviation are found in the designated ADIF tag, the contents fo that designated tag will also be imported into the QSO's QTH item.

  If unambiguous, a CQ zone and ITU zone will be derived from the State, Province, and Grid Square. Any Information found in or derived from the specified field will only be utilized if field specifications are absent from the imported QSO. 
  
  The selector to the right of the State, Province, & Section box is prepopulated with APP_N1MM_EXCHANGE1, COMMENT, NOTES, QTH, REMARK, SECTION, SRX_STRING, and SRX, but you can type in any tag you wish.
  

ADIF Style

While there exists a formal ADIF specification, some applications export ADIF files that are not fully compliant in ways that require foreknowledge on DXKeeper's part in order to successfully import information. QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application are always considered to be "Standard ADIF", independent of the ADIF Style panel's setting.

If the file you are importing contains tags that specify binary data, you must either check the Ignore tags containing binary data box or select Logic in the ADIF Style panel; otherwise, DXKeeper will not properly import the file.

QSOs logged in response to a Log QSO command from another application

As noted above, the following Import Options do not apply to QSOs logged in response to Log QSO command from another application:

• Default to 'send via bureau

• Set Select in imported QSOs to Y

• Ignore tags with binary data

• Produce and Display Award Progress Report

• Report import errors in error file

• Substitution Options

• Replacement Options

• ADIF Style

When importing a QSO logged in response to Log QSO command from another application that does not specify one of these items, DXKeeper will import that item with a default value if one has been specified:

Application-specific ADIF tags

The ADIF specification enables applications to define their own tags. With the ADIF Style set to Standard ADIF, DXKeeper recognizes the application specific tags of certain other applications, as described below:

Note that these application-specific tags take precedence over any standard ADIF tag that may be present in the same record. For example, importing an ADIF record containing <SRX_STRING:3>foo <APP_N1MM_EXCHANGE1:3>bar will set the QSO's rx info item to bar.

Importing tab-delimited files

To import a tab-delimited file by set the ADIF Style panel to tab-delimited file before initiating the import operation. Tab-delimited files are easily created by spreadsheet applications; each row in the spreadsheet produces a line in the file, and each column in the spreadsheet is represented by a tab-delimited field in each line. For DXKeeper to successfully import a tab-delimited file,

1. the first line must contain a caption for each field, where a caption is either a valid ADIF tag, or one of the following

   • QSO_BEGIN_DATE - treated the same as QSO_DATE

   • QSO_BEGIN_TIME - the first 4 digits represent the QSO start time

   • UDF_X - treated the same as APP_DXKEEPER_USER_DEFINED_X (where X is an integer between 0 and 7)

   • any other caption will ignored, as will the data associated with its field

2. the following fields must be present

   • CALL

   • QSO_DATE or QSO_BEGIN_DATE

   • TIME_ON or TIME_OFF or QSO_BEGIN_TIME

   • BAND or FREQ

   • MODE

3. subsequent lines must contain fields whose values comply with the ADIF specification, e.g. frequencies are represented in megahertz with the period character as a decimal separator; the following exceptions are supported

   • BAND - the trailing M character is optional; 20 and 20M are both acceptable

   • QSO_DATE and QSO_BEGIN_DATE - standard date formats like YYYY-MM-DD are accepted in addition to the ADIF standard YYYYMMDD (be careful when using MM/DD/YYYY and DD/MM/YYYY, as these are ambiguous)

   • TIME_ON and TIME_OFF - colon-delimited formats like HH:MM and HH:MM:SS are also accepted in addition to the ADIF standard HHMMSS

   • QSO_BEGIN_TIME - expects times to specified in the format HHMMZ, e.g.. 2345Z

For some users, creating a spreadsheet will be the fastest way to digitize paper logs. Before embarking down this path, set up the spreadsheet's header row, record a few test QSOs, generate a tab-delimited file, import that file into your DXKeeper log, and verify that all QSO data is being properly captured. Then large number of QSOs can be digitized with confidence.

User-defined Items

Each of the eight user-defined items logged with each QSO can be imported 

• from an ADIF file using the field names APP_DXKEEPER_USER_DEFINED_0 through APP_DXKEEPER_USER_DEFINED_7

• from a tab-delimited file using the field names APP_DXKEEPER_USER_DEFINED_0 through APP_DXKEEPER_USER_DEFINED_7 or UDF_0 through UDF_7 or UDF_CAPTION where CAPTION is the user-defined item's Caption

Enabling a user-defined item's ADIF option enables that item to be both imported or exported using its Caption as the field name - in both ADIF and tab-delimited files.

Interactions with other configuration settings

• If the Initialize QSL Sent to 'R' for each imported QSO box is checked, then each imported QSO's QSL Sent item will be set to 'R' unless the imported value is 'Y'

• If the WPX box is checked, the Import operation computes a WPX prefix for imported QSOs for which one is missing.

• If the Initialize eQSL Sent to 'R' box is checked, imported QSOs will have their eQSL sent field set to R. 

• If the Initialize LotW Sent to 'R' box is checked, imported QSOs will have their LotW sent field set to or R.

Other considerations

• If an imported QSO contains an ARRL Section and its DXCC Entity is specified, but is missing a US State or Canadian Province, the State or Province will be determined from the ARRL Section and DXCC Entity if the relationship is unambiguous. For example, an ARRL Section of EMA with a DXCC Entity of USA will automatically set the State to MA.

  If an imported QSO specifies a DXCC entity that formally defines a set of Primary Administrative Subdivisions and specifies a Primary Administrative Subdivision code or abbreviation in its STATE tag and if the Subdivisions box is checked on the Config window's Awards tab, then DXKeeper will

  • correct common misspellings in that primary ode or abbreviation

  • determine whether that code or abbreviation is valid. If valid, then the QSO's PrimaryInvalid item will be set to N, if invalid, then the QSO's PrimaryInvalid item will be set to Y and an error will be noted in the Progress panel. 

• If an imported QSO specifies a DXCC entity that formally defines a set of Primary Administrative Subdivisions and formally defines a set of Secondary Administrative Subdivisions specifies a Primary Administrative Subdivision code or abbreviation in its STATE tag, and specifies a Secondary Administrative Subdivision code or abbreviation in its CNTY tag, and if the Subdivisions box is checked on the Config window's Awards tab, then DXKeeper will

  • correct common misspellings in those primary and secondary codes or abbreviations

  • determine whether the secondary code or abbreviation is valid for the specified DXCC entity and primary code or abbreviation. If valid, then the QSO's SecondaryInvalid item will be set to N, if invalid, then the QSO's SecondaryInvalid item will be set to Y and an error will be noted in the Progress panel. 

• If an imported QSO specifies a DXCC entity that does not formally define a set of Primary Administrative Subdivisions, then its PrimaryInvalid item will be set to N no matter what is imported in the STATE tag; similarly, if an imported QSO specifies a DXCC entity that does not formally define a set of Secondary Administrative Subdivisions, then its SecondaryInvalid item will be set to 'N' no matter what is imported in the CNTY tag. The Broke filter can be used to filter the Log Page Display to show QSOs whose PrimaryInvalid or SecondaryInvalid items are set to Y.

• If the Secondary Administrative Subdivision imported with a QSO is inconsistent with that QSO's DXCC Entity and/or Primary Administrative Subdivision, an import error will be reported and the QSO's SecondaryInvalid item will be set to Y. You can use the Broke filter to identify such QSOs after the import operation is complete.

• The following conversions are performed automatically during import:

  • Frequencies containing two decimal points, like those exported by DXBase, will be correctly interpreted

  • the mode PSK will be imported as PSK31

  • the mode BPSK will be imported as PSK31

  • the mode BPSK31 will be imported as PSK31

  • the mode BPSK63 will be imported as PSK63

  • the mode MFSK will be imported as MFSK16

  • the modes USB and  LSB are imported as SSB.

• Information imported with a Prop_Mode tag that exceeds the field-width (8) will be appended to the Comment field. 

• When an imported ADIF record contains an APP_DXKEEPER_MY_QTHID tag, the associated myQTH ID is placed in the imported QSO's myQTH ID item. If the log contains no QTH definition that specifies the imported myQTH ID, then a new QTH definition is created, and assigned this myQTH ID. If the imported ADIF record contains any of the following ADIF tags, their associated data is used to populated the newly-created QTH definition: APP_DXKEEPER_MY_COUNTY_NAME, APP_DXKEEPER_MY_STATE_NAME, MY_CITY, MY_CNTY, MY_COUNTRY, MY_CQZONE, MY_DXCC, MY_GRIDSQUARE, MY_IOTA, MY_ITUZONE, MY_LAT, MY_LON,  MY_POSTAL_CODE, MY_STATE, and MY_STREET.

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