A Cabrillo Primer, by Don Field G3XTT

The RSGB HF Contests Committee has recently moved to adopt the Cabrillo format for RSGB contest entries. This is not to say that other formats wont be accepted, at least for the time being, but Cabrillo will be preferred, and the hope is that an increasing proportion of logs will follow the format as time goes by.

I am already hearing a variety of ill-informed comment about the implications of this decision such as the RSGB is forcing us to buy commercial logging software or whatever. The purpose of this article is to set some of those misconceptions to rest, and explain (as best I can!) what is actually going on.

Why Cabrillo?

The first thing to say is that it makes the Adjudicators job a lot easier if logs are in a common format. Having been adjudicator for the IOTA Contest for two years, I am aware of the wide number of variations in format which exist, and it is often very time-consuming to convert these into something suitable for checking purposes. The RSGB HFCC has, in the past, made some attempt to adopt a standard, both by way of a straightforward text format, and also by recommending the use of ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format, used not only for contest logs, but for a wide variety of station log conversion purposes). Neither of these has really taken off, for a variety of reasons. Partly because they may not be supported by the major software authors, and partly because ADIF never really seems to have made a major impact as a data interchange standard.

The good news is that a standard does exist, which is already well supported and gaining ground all the time. That standard is Cabrillo. ARRL faced exactly the same issues as RSGB in dealing with many log formats, and asked Trey N5KO to work on a standard which would meet their requirements for something which was simple to implement, but would give them what they wanted. The thinking behind Cabrillo is essentially:

1. Text based no html or other tags, both for simplicity of implementation and with the added benefit that a log can easily be eyeballed to determine whether it contains the required information.

2. All information in a single flat file, rather than having separate log and summary files, which would need to be sent as attachments. As a result, the log can usually be sent within the body of an e-mail (Attachments are treated in a variety of ways by different mailing programs and different ISPs, which can lead to problems. Note though that some contest sponsors require the Cabrillo file to be send as an attachment but, please, always as the .log file, never as a .zip file or other form of encoding).

3. Header information (name, mode, power, etc.) is, as far as possible, generic, rather than contest-specific. This simplifies the job of the software authors, but when correctly implemented the contest sponsors should easily be able to determine which category has been entered.

4. Each QSO record contains all data relevant to that QSO (callsign of both stations, band, mode, etc.), allowing the log to be sorted in various ways for checking, but easily recreated as required.

5. The data format, while specifying desired character position and format for each item of QSO data (time, call, band, sent and received exchanges, etc.) is actually very undemanding. Essentially, provided there is white space (tab or space is fine, no slashes, commas or full stops please!) between each element, the adjudicator should be able to make sense of the log.

Cabrillo deliberately doesnt ask for data which can perfectly well be determined by the Adjudicator. So, for example, it doesnt ask you to indicate multipliers, QSO points, duplicate contacts, off periods, etc. Too many entrants mess these things up, or handle them in disparate ways. All can be figured out as and when required by the checking software.

What does a log consist of?

Lets have a look at a typical Cabrillo log:

START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CONTEST: CQ-WW-RTTY
CALLSIGN: G3XTT
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL-BAND HIGH-POWER
CLAIMED-SCORE: 484750
OPERATORS: G3XTT
CLUB: Chiltern DX Club
NAME: Don Field
ADDRESS: 105 Shiplake Bottom, Peppard Common,
ADDRESS: Henley-on-Thames, RG9 5HJ
ADDRESS: England
QSO: 21000 RY 2002-09-28 1146 G3XTT 599 14 DX RV3WU 599 16 DX
QSO: 21000 RY 2002-09-28 1146 G3XTT 599 14 DX SP9LJD 599 15 DX
END-OF-LOG:

Much of this will be common to all contests, but obviously the actual QSO data varies (typically the contest exchange). So the early part of the QSO line will remain the same (Band, Mode, Date, Time, MyCall) while the rest will vary by contest. To deal with this, preferred formats are specified on N5KOs Web page, and for RSGB contests there will also be links from the HFCC Web page. Software authors will be encouraged to support the preferred format for the various RSGB events (In the IOTA contest, by far the majority of logs are generated from just a handful of popular contest logging programs CT, SD, NA, Writelog, N1MM, LuxLog being the favoured ones). But the good news, as you may have figured by now, is that you can produce a Cabrillo log in any text editor or Word processor with the greatest of ease. Also, many station logging programs such as Turbolog allow you to output log data as ASCII text in whatever order you specify, so it is easy to set up what you require. Equally, you could keep your log in a spreadsheet, sort the columns into the required order and save as a text file. If you need to manipulate the Cabrillo file once you have generated it, then life may be a little easier if you get hold of one of the many text editors that will allow you to edit columns as well as lines (several of these exist, including both shareware and freeware programs downloadable from the Web)

Note that the minimum the organisers want is the log file. If you get a tracking number, then thats fine. The robot is happy with your entry. If you forgot some additional information (Club name, for example) , or spot some error with your log, dont panic. Just resend the log. Providing it arrives before adjudication has started, it will overwrite the original log on the server, and youll be fine.

Thats it!

And thats about all you need to know. For many contests which have already adopted Cabrillo, the server runs a little routine to check for key fields in the log, and will generate an error message back to the sender if data is missing or suspect (for example if the dates and times dont correspond to the contest which is being entered). Entrants are then able to resubmit their log, when the problem has been fixed. This saves the adjudicators a lot of time which might otherwise have been spent in correspondence (my guess is that I had to e-mail 30% or more of IOTA contest entrants this year because of missing information or corrupted logs).

Just as a final little anecdote, Im occasionally asked what is the deep meaning of the term Cabrillo. And I discovered from Trey that, unbeknownst to me, I had actually sowed the seeds for the name some time ago. On a visit that Trey made to my QTH several years back we had been talking about Maidenhead locators and I had explained that John G4ANB, who devised the Maidenhead locator system, had named it such for the simple reason that he was living in Maidenhead at the time. Guess what .. Trey lives in the township of Cabrillo, California. So he adopted the same approach to nomenclature. Simple as that!

Of course, you may still have questions, in which case feel free to e-mail Paul or myself and well either answer you directly or include a short supplementary in the next Digest. Happy contesting!