Great idea, I don't know much about QR codes but have been told they can store up to 4,000 characters so why not use the already established ADIF format to store the information.
Biggest limitation is it would have to become popular to be useful but it would be great for QSL managers and bureau's. 73 John ZL1BYZ. -----Original Message----- From: dx4win-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:dx4win-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of PY2YP Sent: Friday, 27 July 2012 08:19 To: Dx4win@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Dx4win] QR-Code On behalf of the author, PY1KN, a suggestion that should be considered to the wish list. 73 de PY2YP - Cesar Automated QSL reading -- a suggestion for software developers Marcelo Gomes -- PY1KN ARRL's LOTW is a great thing, saving a lot of work for managers of large dx-peditions or big contest stations, as well as active Dxers. However, paper QSL cards are not going to disappear anytime soon. Whenever I receive a bunch of QSL cards from the bureau, I have to manually enter the other station callsign in my logging software and look for matches in my logbook. Then I can take appropriate action, marking the QSO as confirmed and marking a QSL for printing. If you receive a large batch it can take many hours. There must be a better way. Nowadays QR-codes have become ubiquitous, as its an easy way to create free format machine readable information. So, if in addition to the traditional QSO data lines e can add a QR code with the same information, the logging software could decode and search for matches and take appropriate action. The best solution would be to set a standard way to write the QSO data. I´ve made a simple test, writing 5 QSOs with W1AW, using ";" as field separator according to the following pattern: Callsign yyyymmdd ;hh:mm; Mhz; band; mode; RS(T); QSL A sample 5-QSO data in this format would look like W1AW 20120130;00:10;21.025;15M;CW;599;PSE 20120131;01:22;14.185;20M;SSB;59;PSE 20120317;22:12;10.145;30M;RTTY;599;TKS 20120401;10:00;;12M;PSK31;599;PSE 20120718;23:18;7.023;40M;CW;599;PSE Note that the 4^th QSO has no frequency info, just the band. In this case the blank fiels results in 2 adjacent separators (;;) The resulting QR-Code image is example would be: This image could be added to my outgoing QSL to W1AW. A QSL printing service like GlobalQSL could generate it automatically from the QSO data uploaded and print it directly in the card. The printing routines of the logging programs could include the option to print it on a blank space of the card, or on a label, A QR-image can hold up to 255 characters, if we consider typical line with the formatting I used as holding 36 characters, there is space to easily fit 8 QSOs in the image. I have tried to use a leaner format, eliminating the frequency information, the hour-minute separator (:), the M abbreviation in the band and use only P or T for QSL status, link the example below, but the gain is not relevant, especially if we consider that plain text information also has to appear in the card. In practice, we don't see more than 7 QSO lines in a card. WIAW 20120401;1000;160;RTTY;599;P (example of more condensed formatting) The first software developer who jumps into this will set the standard. Maybe we don't need the frequency information, maybe we can just write P or T for the QSL PSE or TKS. Time will tell if this idea evolves. -- 73 DX de PY2YP - Cesar ______________________________________________________________ DX4WIN mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dx4win Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:DX4WIN@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ DX4WIN mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dx4win Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:DX4WIN@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
