Dave, I have a suggestion that may allow for more timely distribution of LOTW information without additional cost to the ARRL. I see that ARRL has a forum for DXCC but it does not appear to be used widely for LOTW. I doubt creating an LOTW forum would be helpful, however. It appears most of the LOTW information exchange is occurring on ARRL-LOTW@yahoogroups.com with over 2000 members. One of my division members suggested that having accurate information from the ARRL on a timely basis would handle most of the rumors that come out concerning LOTW. Although several on the board may be members of that group, we are still dealing with second hand information. Is it possible for someone on staff who is directly associated with the LOTW program monitor that list, perhaps in digest form? That staffer would have the advantage of having direct access to problems members are having, and be able to post timely authoritative information on the system for the members, dispelling rumors. Hopefully it would take less than 15 minutes in a day, scanning through the digest, and posting a reply. It would be certainly more efficient than responding to members one at a time. It goes without saying that the staffer will have to have a thick skin! Some will not be happy with any answer. The majority would be appreciative of the information. There is a precedent for this. Ed Hare did participate in the BPL yahoogroup, and information exchange was astounding (and we even won that war!). On another front, Paul Opitz is the product manager for Uniden. He participates in many of the scanner yahoogroups, and is highly appreciated by the scanner community for his customer service. I think this would be great customer service for no additional cost. '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 9:11 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:21268] LOTW status I just responded to a member's message about LoTW and thought the information in my reply might be useful to you. I expect more information will be available tomorrow. Kay, I hope he is not blaming you for non-response since he busted your callsign in the address both times. 73, Dave K1ZZ _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Sent: Wed 11/28/2012 2:05 AM To: Alan Swinger; Alan Swinger; nk3n@arrl.org Cc: David Damon; Jim Crosby - AARC/K4JEC; Jim Owen - K4CGY Subject: RE: Fw: LOTW Non-Response by ARRL! Dear Alan: There are two major issues with LoTW right now, and they are related. The processing backlog, which I appreciate your saying is not the main problem, caused a larger queue to develop than previously experienced and larger in terms of the number of individual files than the system was designed for. Please bear in mind that the current IT staff was not involved with the original design and implementation of LoTW, so -- while the current staff is very knowledgable about the system -- it was not immediately apparent that the very large number of files in the queue was causing the main problem you identified. I believe we now understand what is happening and why, and that we'll get it under control tomorrow (barring some unforeseen development in the meantime). At this moment I don't know which of several options will be the best fix and it may have to involve taking the system offline for a couple of days in order to work down the size of the queue, although it's possible we will be able to avoid that. We should know tomorrow and I expect we will be able to provide a better explanation to the user community than heretofore. The other issue, processing speed, is being addressed through a hardware upgrade. That will take several weeks to implement and in the meantime, once the 10 meter contest is behind us the historic pattern suggests that the system should catch up anyway. I do understand the angst that the situation has created. Coincidentally, I am sitting just one credit short of the next level in the DXCC Challenge so you can bet I'm watching both my LoTW account and my USPS mailbox. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ _____ From: Alan Swinger [mailto:awswinger@earthlink.net] Sent: Tue 11/27/2012 10:54 PM To: Alan Swinger; nk3n@arrl.org; Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Cc: David Damon; Jim Crosby - AARC/K4JEC; Jim Owen - K4CGY Subject: Re: Fw: LOTW Non-Response by ARRL! Kay and Dave - The problem mentioned below with LoTW continues and despite rumors among users - and not officials from HQs - solutions/progress et al are unknown. The biggest concern in the Ham user community (US and and a very large number of DX) of LoTW is not How Fast QSO File Uploads are processed, but rather that the files are not lost and that they are in fact being processed . . . i.e. the Integrity of the System is what is is question!! Your IT staff does respond to queries on e-mail, but not with substantive answers about real solutions . . . and certainly with nothing that inspires confidence with respect to lost files an system integrity. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that Uploaded files are Processed out of order in some random fashion. So, YOU have a problem that has international attention and a great deal of angst! I know I am PO'd and frustrated, but so are many others . . . and there is NO leadership interest or solutions evident to any of us. I hope you wake up and smell the coffee on this ongoing problem. Pls engage this matter and also respond so I and others know you are doing so. Best - Alan Swinger K9MBQ -----Original Message-----
From: Alan Swinger <awswinger@earthlink.net> Sent: Nov 25, 2012 2:45 PM To: nk3n@arrl.org Subject: Fw: LOTW Non-Response by ARRL!
Kay - Forwarded fyi and hopefully - action. The LoTW problem is not only annoying, but suggest that the ARRL should be embarrassed in the international community by the apparent length of the problem and inability of the HQ staff to remedy. E-mails on the LoTW reflector are brutal. Hope you can exercise some management support to get it fixed. Best regards, Alan Swinger K9MBQ