I’ve been downloading both exports for a while now and trying to only use the POTA export for the POTA site and the full export for things like qrz and lotw. Is there any reason NOT to just use the full export?
Ran into a bug where I downloaded the past 4 or 5 pota adif files right from the site (these were just the pota export files) and uploaded them to LOTW. Looks like the POTA upload does not include things like My grid or my county. I assume if I uploaded the full log this probably wouldn’t have happened.
The POTA Adif is formatted for uploading to the POTA site, and Full Adif is for logging programs. The full version has extra fields not needed for POTA, and it does not contain all the info to properly log park-to-park contacts, especially when they involve 2-fers. As you found, the POTA version does not have the location info such as grid squares and state/county.
So they are different files optimized for different purposes.
Okay, so pota export still required for all activations, or only when I’m doing 2-fers? Or is it when responding to a 2-fer? I likely will only ever do a single activation and not a 2-fer.
Why not just include all of that into one export so it can be used on multiple sites?
the 2-fer “thing” is not just when YOU are activating a 2fer, It’s also for when you make a P2P with a 2fer. The POTA export will contain extra QSOs, one each for each park. The full will have only one for that contact.
You will then get credit for the 2 contacts in POTA. But for a log manager import file, these 2 QSOs are regarded as dupes.
As for the data in full, you may wish to read this section of the manual.
All of the portable activities supported by PoLo will have their own specific export with a tailored, minimal dataset. The full export will have more data including private data if you have enabled that feature. A paid QRZ subscription in combination will have the most data.
e.g. using the paid QRZ subscription will also pull gridsquares.