How to Use the Amateur Radio Contest Log Formatter Prompt to Submit a Clean Cabrillo File

After a long contest weekend, the last thing most operators want is a rejection email from the log robot. Yet it happens often, usually because of a wrong CATEGORY value, a frequency written in MHz instead of kHz, a mode code the robot does not accept, or an exchange in the wrong shape. The Amateur Radio Contest Log Formatter: Cabrillo 3.0 Header, QSO Lines, and Pre-submission Checks from a Logbook Export prompt takes a messy logbook export and turns it into a Cabrillo 3.0 file, then checks it the way a log checker would before you upload.

What the prompt produces

1. A Cabrillo header with START-OF-LOG, CONTEST, CALLSIGN, and the full set of CATEGORY lines, followed by operator, name, address, email, and CREATED-BY lines.
2. QSO lines in the standard order: frequency in kHz, mode code, UTC date and time, sent call and exchange, received call and exchange.
3. Conversion notes that explain how each field in your export maps to Cabrillo.
4. Pre-submission checks for duplicates, out of period contacts, out of band frequencies, invalid exchanges, and missing fields.
5. A list of hand decisions with row numbers, for anything the prompt should not change itself.
6. A submission note covering file format, name, and upload.

How to fill the inputs

ContestRules should include the contest name, the dates, and the exact CONTEST value the sponsor wants in Cabrillo. Take it from the sponsor's rules page, not from memory. ExchangeFormat is the exchange as the rules define it, such as signal report plus CQ zone, serial number, or state.

StationFacts covers your callsign, operators, power, bands, assisted status, number of transmitters, and location. LogRows is your export, pasted as ADIF fields or CSV columns. LoggerName helps the prompt understand quirks of the export, such as whether times are already in UTC.

Reading the example output

The example formats four rows from a phone app export for CQ World Wide SSB, worked from Ohio in CQ zone 4:

• Frequencies are converted. 14.2050 MHz becomes 14205 kHz.
• Mode codes follow Cabrillo. USB and LSB both become PH for phone.
• The sent exchange is added to every line. The report 59 and zone 04 come from the station facts.
• The checks find real problems. One row is a duplicate on the same band and mode, and another has zone 52, which cannot be right because CQ zones run from 1 to 40.
• The prompt does not fix logged data. It flags the zone for you to check against your audio or notes, because changing a logged exchange is your decision, not the tool's.
• No score is claimed. The scoring rules were not provided, so CLAIMED-SCORE is left out.

Tips for better results

• Copy category names straight from the sponsor's Cabrillo instructions. Each contest has its own accepted values.
• Export from your logger in UTC if it offers the option.
• Run the checks before you rest. Busted calls are easier to sort out while the contest is fresh in your mind.
• Keep the conversion notes with your files in case the sponsor asks how the log was prepared.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not edit callsigns or exchanges to make them look valid.
• Do not save the log from a word processor. It must be plain text.
• Do not forget END-OF-LOG at the end of the file.

Who it is for

Casual and part time contesters, new operators submitting their first log, club log checkers, and anyone who logged on paper or a phone app instead of a contest logger.

Related PromptDig links

Open the Amateur Radio Contest Log Formatter: Cabrillo 3.0 Header, QSO Lines, and Pre-submission Checks from a Logbook Export prompt and paste your exported log. For more prompts for hobbies and specialist tasks, Browse more prompts. If you have a hobby prompt that others in your club would use, Share a prompt.