Hi, Marty and I are plan to discuss this issue further but I just wanted to get back to ODV as well as my discussion with him. Briefly, Marty is right about LoTW being much more efficient as opposed to a paper application. It takes about an hour to process a paper app and minutes for a LoTW only app. Many apps are hybrids - a combination of both paper cards and LoTW records, so it is very difficult to separate out the categories. Obviously, the more people who use LoTW, the more accurate and faster our processing time becomes. The LoTW certificates for the new PJ entities couldn't be activated until 2010 processing was completed. Once that was done, things moved remarkably fast. Heading out to Dayton early tomorrow. Hope to some of you there. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B ARRL Chief Operating Officer 860 594 0220 From: Marty Woll [mailto:n6vi@socal.rr.com] Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 6:33 PM To: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B; arrl-odv; Ford, Steve, WB8IMY; Glass, Katie, KB1ULQ; Hare, Ed W1RFI; Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R; Jahnke, Deb, K1DAJ; Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ; Patton, David NN1N; Pitts, Allen W1AGP; Somma, Maria, AB1FM Cc: Moore, Bill, NC1L (ARRL Awards Branch); Fusaro, Norm W3IZ; Taratula, Sharon Subject: Re: [arrl-odv:19951] DX Report Revised Hi, Harold. Unless I missed, the charts on DXCC processed-QSO volume do not specify how many were LoTW confirmations, how many were field-checked and how many were cards sent to HQ. Since the amount of work by staff varies greatly among these three modes, I don't see how absolute volume is a useful metric. QSLs must be examined by expert eyes, field-checked entries need only be keyed in, and LoTW credits should involve practically no staff time other than confirmation of payment for credits used the mailing of certificates or endorsement stickers. Unless the data excludes LoTW-confirmed contacts, this appears to mix apples and oranges as far as workload. I see that actual applications are down for each of the last two years. As for the impact of the new PJ countries, I got more than a few grumbles about the delay in crediting them to DXCC totals. We knew in advance when it would happen; did it take over four months for the initial operations to submit docs and apply for certificates? Also, would it be correct to assume that most of those seeking credit did so through LoTW matches rather than with QSL cards? Thanks for the acknowledgement of my involvement with an interim user-keyed-in VUCC format, but Mike Keane wrote the routine that enabled my simple CSV files to be read automatically into LoTW. As I detailed in an earlier private e-mail, there is still at least one bug in that process - or in LoTW logic - in this regard. Until you start processing a volume of card-based or hybrid applications, we can't tell for certain whether it's in Mike's conversion routine (I think not) or in LoTW hybrid-app logic (I suspect so). In any case, I'm happy to discuss the issue but have heard from no one since I raised the issue a couple of weeks ago. I hope this sort of thing gets some priority, since resolving it means we can openly promote member-keyed input for card-based apps that much sooner, further reducing the need for staff intervention. See you this weekend. 73, Marty N6VI