Is there anything in the works for a grid square based award, like an eVUCC?

Dave WB4IUY

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday

I hope they do!! Would be nice for 6m,2m,70c, etc etc...

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W8OSP Jayson L. Tillis

Yep, especially since the ARRL doesn't offer this for LOTW. I don't understand this, as the grid info is already in the submission for LOTW.

C'mon eQSL, whip up an eVUCC for us :-)

Thanks to all at eQSL for their hard work. I'm excited about the joining with CQ, this is a major milestone for eQSL!

Dave WB4IUY

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday

I agree! We need a grid square award for 6 meters and 2 meters, not just UHF. I am shocked that ARRL doesnt use LOTW for VUCC, after all that work (going thru the multiple security stuff). I like the intermediate award idea, like eDX, great to encourage beginners. So maybe an eVHF Lower 48 award (skip HI and AK), A eVU-50 (VUCC Junior) as well as the full deal. We are trying (my fellow 6 and 2M SSB/CW fanatics) to encourage more activity on a daily basis on 2, 6 and even 10M. Bet there are more openings than what we think (if no one is in the woods, does a falling tree make noise? Physics says yes, but if no ears, so what?).

Of course the best deal in a while was CQ magazine signing on, now eQSL is with the "big boys". That should get more participation. I have more than enough QSO's for DXCC, and WAS (have it via ARRL) but still missing responses from hams that don't participate.

I think the eQSL team has done us a great service!
73
Karl
WA2KBZ in MO. EM38

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WA2KBZ Karl Schulte

Any headway at all in grid square awards for VHF (6 & 2 meters)? With all of the eQSL members, there's got to be many thousands of VHF contacts logged here.

Dave WB4IUY

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday
http://www.2vuLcans.net
http://www.TEARA.org
http://www.ScootWorks.com
http://www.EastRC.org

Is there any change in the eVUCC program that has been stalled for several years?

Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday
http://www.WB4IUY.net
http://www.2vuLcans.net
http://www.TEARA.org

EQSL is working on it, I believe this year we will have news about the awards.

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CT1EKD Pedro

Also, given the sorry excuse for a sun spot peak, I have suggested to the senior management of eqsl (a great service IMO) that the do a old time (pre-AK and HI WAS such as "Worked Lower 48 on 6Meters" award. This would be a nice intermediate award, equal to the 1950's era, and needed as it is way hard to get HI and AK from much of USA. Like the grid awards on 6 and 2 as well. 73 Karl WA2KBZ/ Jeff City, MO

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WA2KBZ Karl Schulte

I'd like to +1 on eVUCC but I'd also like to ask for specific support for the band of 4m (70MHz). 4m is not currently a band found in the Americas however it is constantly growing in popularity with new allocations now appearing frequently. Icom have even bet on the band by including it in their new IC-7100 (certain regions only).

I've been a 4m op for 20 years and have watched the band gradually develop. There is a movement in the USA to have the band allocated, as in Canada (as evidenced by my 4m Transatlantic contact) but the band's inclusion in awards is scant at best.

Please, please include 4m and 6m in a new eVUCC award and help promote 4m to a fully international allocation.

All the best,

Nige.

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G7CNF Nigel Coleman BA, BSc.(Eng)

Has anyone heard anything else about any new development in the eVUCC award program?

Dave WB4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday
http://www.WB4IUY.net
http://www.2vuLcans.net
http://www.TEARA.org

The way the awards program works is that a software program goes through and checks all the credits for a particular award. Once enough credits are earned, the "apply" button is activated and the user can apply for the award. This generates an award application that needs to be checked manually at this end.

The problem with grid based awards, and the reason they have not been extended, is that many, many users get their grid wrong when they create their account. It is the hardest of all the awards to check, and the award manager can spend an hour or more checking credits on an award application for the current grid awards we have.

So, until we can come up with a solution for this the grid awards won't be extended.

Same problem with a county award BTW. We have a county award in test mode but it won't go live any time soon; counties are even worse because many users just accept the default county when they create their account.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

Makes perfect sense, David, and thanks for taking time to reply about this. Like with most things, there's usually a lot more to make something happen than it would appear on the surface :-)

Dave WB4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday
http://www.WB4IUY.net
http://www.2vuLcans.net
http://www.TEARA.org

Howdy eQSL folks! Just checking in again to see if there's any headway on an eQSL 6/2/etc grid square award, yet? I've done it every year or so since 2009.

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday
http://www.WB4IUY.net
http://www.2vuLcans.net
http://www.TEARA.org

Do you do any JT65? We currently have an eGrid HF/JT65 award in test mode at the moment.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

Hi David,

I do a little JT65, not real active on that mode. Every once in a while I'll do it to remind myself how it works, but it's just a little too slow for me :-) I'll check and see if my contacts show up there.

Update...duh, I'm stupid. You said "test" mode... I went over and looked through all the categories and realized that it wasn't there for folks to see. I log with AClog and it calls to QRZ for QSL info. That populates the grid field in my log automatically, and I correct it if the other person is rover or operating at a different location. The grid square data is certainly there in my uploads, I've just never looked to see what eQSL does with it.

Dave

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday
http://www.WB4IUY.net
http://www.2vuLcans.net
http://www.TEARA.org
Edited by WB4IUY Dave Hockaday on Jun 13, 2015 at 12:21 PM

No worries, yes, currently only we can see it.

Problem with that grid data is that eQSL currently does nothing with it, although the data is stored for a future time. So, for eQSL we depend on the grid data that is in the user profile. Obviously no good for mobile stations, and that is the main reason eGrid has not been expanded.

So, we thought we would start with JT65, obviously not too many mobile stations doing JT65 :)

Give it a couple of weeks to go live, if all goes well with testing.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

So...it seems to me it the users problem if they don't have their grid listed correctly in their own account. That's the way is is in QRZ and LOTW. It's not like these awards are used to secure a mortgage on a home or borrow money...it's a simple plaque, mostly for our own enjoyment. I see my first post dates all the way back to 2009, but still no VUCC or similar award. I'm not trying to be a butt over this, but SWL's can skim enough data off the dxcluster to submit for awards, I don't see the issue with VUCC if someone has the wrong grid in their logger...their problem. I'm just one paying member for many years, but I'm sure I'm not alone. in this request. QRZ has totally developed their system in just a few years for this.

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WB4IUY Dave Hockaday
http://www.WB4IUY.net
http://www.2vuLcans.net
http://www.TEARA.org

FWD => Webmaster



SWL's cannot apply for this eGrid award, here

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73 - F6DKQ