I have a lot of SOTA activations logged on my ‘phone that I’d like to import into my master logbook on my PC. Is it possible to export all the operations as a single ADIF or do I have to export separate ADIF files for each operation? The latter would be very tedious.
Thanks,
Denis MW0CBC
Only export for each operation is available.
I always export as soon as I go QRT. I don’t leave it to pile up. It takes 2 seconds.
Alan
Thank you.
It only takes minutes if you do it every time (as I do with my SOTA log to the SOTA database each time) but I probably have 50+ old SOTA activations stored on my ‘phone.
I was going to upload them all to LOTW in case any chasers wanted country/mode confirmations etc that way but I probably won’t bother now if I’ve got to trawl through them all one at a time.
73
Denis MW0CBC.
How did you upload the activations to SOTA?
Alan
One at a time after each activation.
I didn’t bother to export each activation to my home logbook (Logger32) each time because I wasn’t personally bothered about having them stored there. I was just trying to help people who might want LoTW confirmations.
I’m sorry so - did you delete them? email them to yourself (in which they are all still there)? Save them to a cloud folder?
Alan
I’d like to chime in that this is a valid request. People sometimes lose their devices, backups fail or become uncertain. Absolutely we should be keeping our log files in perfect condition in one place all the time, but let’s face it. It just doesn’t always happen. Things get accidentally moved or deleted, etc. And the only copy may be on the phone in Polo. Being able to say “Export every operation” to a single file (or maybe multiple adifs zipped) would be a useful feature to allow users to confidently know they have all logs up to X date in one place.
Jeff,
If you enable the Sync feature in PoLo, then all data is synced back to the PoLo Cloud server. This provides access to your data instantaneously across multiple devices.
When the desktop version comes out shortly, your data will also be accessible from the PoLo “Log Manager application” which will have many features associated with traditional log managers.
Alan
I like the idea of a log sync with ability to recover from there. I look forward to the developments in this area.
Alan, is that to say that the upcoming desktop client will allow for ADIF export of the entire log to another application of choice? Replacing an OM’s desktop logging application, with their decades of historic QSOs and the pain of setting up TQSL/LotW far in the past, might have mixed reception.
I recently had to go through the pain of exporting dozens of separate operations as separate full ADIFs too. I had only backed up the SOTA ADIFs at the time of the activation. How was I to know, as a new user?
I note that some loggers don’t tolerate ADIFs containing multiple station locations, so an additional export format might be “download all operations as separate ADIFs” - maybe in a zip archive. This would have saved me a huge amount of time fussing with the app.
More discussion of which loggers tolerate single ADIFs versus per-location ADIFs: Slack
No one is going to try to disengage you from your data.
In the first instance, the desktop version will be a PC/Mac/Linux version of PoLo with some added features similar to other desktop Log Managers.
Let’s not get a head of ourselves. ADIF is as it is defined, an interchange format so you can transfer data between systems. If what you want is a bulk export feature then its likely that will be available at some point.
I have over 400 operations in my PoLo data and they have all been exported as I go and submitted to the activity as well as imported to my Log Manager. I haven’t left them accumulate to this date without transferring. I think most people are the same. But I may be wrong. If there are OPs who just leave them in PoLo and a year or so later wonder about the best way to get the data back out then I’m sure this situation can be addressed.
Alan
I do think it a little presumptive to assume that all users have been exporting ALL their logs in full form as they go. In fact, all my log exports have been SOTA logs, not the full version. Lots of newer hams are probably in a similar predicament. Polo has been under very active development so features have been changing, etc. I do LOVE where things are going. Keep up the great work. But I’m positive lots of hams would appreciate the chance to do a full export in the future for lots of reasons we’ve covered: misunderstandings, data loss, data movement, consolidation, reconcilliation.
I was basing that comment on feedback from users… not my imagination.
Alan
@VK1AO Seriously thank you for all the feedback you wade through to build the vision for PoLo. It’s our privilege to be part of the process.
Three users in this thread have given additional feedback that is different from your prior observations. Logic says all current users must fit into one of 3 categories:
If bulk exports can fit into the roadmap, group #2 (us, here in this thread) are the best ones to help test the feature. That’s because #1 don’t have a problem, and #3 don’t know they have a problem.
So if there’s any way we can help with development of the best possible PoLo, would you please let us know?
Thanks for hearing us out.
Mike / AD8IS
OK well, Mike,
Firstly, category 2 OPs in your list have had to go out of their way to uncheck the box for full log export each time they export because it’s checked by default. So I think I can assume they each knew that they were not exporting the full logs as they went along.
Next, category 3 OPs are in 2 groups, I suspect. Those (group 1) who have made their decision in full knowledge that a full export was never part of the application from inception and after 2 years, still is not there. So they too have made conscious decisions. And then group 2, who may not have realised that a full export has never been part of the feature set, but may have just imagined that it was or would soon be. There are many ways for questions on this topic to have been asked before now but as you can see, only 3+ users have raised the topic at all.
Many many more OPs have been most focused on ensuring the full log has all the data they prefer it to have, so that their main log manager can be accurately maintained and so they can sync their data with their chosen QSL services without further issue.
In any case, in the current state of the application, where thousands of users have accumulated over 2 years of data, (my database is several Gigabytes) manipulation of the full log is being answered by way of data syncing. This has been a conscious decision in the direction of the desktop application environment taking over such tasks as you are referring to and more. Data syncing is operational now. The desktop environment is being developed.
There was some thought in the past of providing a feature of “export all which have not already been exported”.. but this has also been supplanted with the sync process, since the sync process answers so many possible issues, it happens silently in the background, it’s almost instantaneous as you edit/add QSOs, it provides recovery from interruptions, it syncs between multiple devices, maintains integrity and will still have your deleted operations or QSOs. When you decide it was a mistake to have deleted them, you can recover them again.
The desktop environment will build on this logic. And exporting as much of the database as you like in as big or small a parcels as you wish, I’m sure, will be a trivial feature in the lineup. Just like any of the popular desktop log managers.
As for help with development, PoLo is open source and any/all contributions are welcome for both code and documentation. Don’t be shy.
Alan