Dave, Thanks for the clarification. So, it would follow that if someone sends an adif file of their entire log rather than new/corrected contacts, the system gets bogged down. When I go to the LOTW pages, there appears to be no request to submit partial logs, particularly on the "upload file" page. From trusted QSL, it is an option, although there is no encouragement to do so. This may be a concept that most members do not understand. I know I sent full logs in the past. Perhaps an education piece on the LOTW website or incorporated into Trusted QSL could supplement the current efforts of hardware upgrades. Those of the board family that are receiving complaints could certainly ask the individuals how they are submitting logs, full or partial. It is a sign of the times. In the past, we would normally wait numerous years for gathering QSL's and submitting them to the ARRL for credit, generally associated with a significant expense (postage, green stamps/IRC's, SASE's, Registered mail, etc.). Now there is just a minimal fee (LOTW), and credit is expected immediately. Whew. I really do not understand the magnitude of the outcry when the LOTW system is not operating perfectly. It should be common knowledge that computer systems, no matter how well designed, can fail. With the volume that system handles, it will take some processing time. I know the data can be sent via e-mail or the website. I do not know if that data is directly imported to LOTW, or requires human intervention to do so. If a staff member has to input the data file, eliminating that step could be another opportunity to speed up processing. After hearing the complaints after the last downtime, I attempted to join the ARRL-LOTW yahoogroup-my membership was denied... I think the ARRL's response was timely and appropriate, responding with a short term and long term plan. This is the information that I give members. I am interested as to how well these SSHD's work with LOTW. My son put one in his computer and a full Windows 7 boot-up takes all of 35 seconds! '73 de JIM N2ZZ -----Original Message----- From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 3:55 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:21350] Re: LoTW Tom said:
The hardware upgrade should provide a fairly immediate impact, but the impact of duplicate records will need work in the future. They're working hard to get the new drives on line as soon as possible.
Barry - correct me if I'm wrong ...
Barry has some meetings this afternoon, but I can provide an update. Tom, you're right. The hardware arrived, is installed, and appears to be meeting expectations. There's more work and testing to be done before it's ready for "production" but so far, so good. As I understand it, files that are exact duplicates aren't much of a problem. Files that consist mostly, but not entirely, of duplicate QSOs are more of a problem. This occurs, for example, when someone uploads their entire log every time rather than just the new QSOs, or when someone makes corrections to a contest log and sends the whole thing again rather than just the corrected QSOs. The question of how best to deal with duplicates will be addressed after the new hardware is on line. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ P.S. Until this morning I had only been in the office for three hours since December 13, the result of a combination of travel, illness and holiday. I am taking Friday and Monday off and plan to be in the office full time beginning on January 2. If you have sent me an email and are waiting for a reply, please be patient -- my queue is not as large as LoTW's but unlike LoTW I am not working through it on a strict first-in/first-out basis. _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org http://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv