The Import/Import ADIF File menu item allows you to add entries to your log from an ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format) file.
The ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format) file has become the standard for exchanging log information between contest and logging programs. Most ham radio applications that deal with log file entries can import and export entries as ADIF files.
It's prudent to make periodic backups of your log and it's especially important to do backups before importing entries from other sources, see Backups. If you want to test the results of an import without modifying your current log file you can choose File/New and create a temporary log file and import the data into this log to verify that the data is imported correctly.
If you're going to be importing files containing QSOs not made recently check "Deleted Countries" at the end of this section.
When you choose Import/Import ADIF File three dialog boxes will be displayed that let you select options that affect the import.
The first dialog box allows you to provide default field values for each imported log entry. This feature can be useful when importing contest log files and would allow you to set the "Power" field for each entry or add a comment to the "Notes" field of each entry. It also allows you the enable the Get Info From Callbook option so that the "Name", "County", "State", "Grid" and "Address" fields will be set for each imported entry. If you would like to use this feature select the Edit button to define the values and then enable the Set fields to values defined using the Edit button below... option.
Note that field values found within the ADIF file will not be over-written by any default values you have defined. The exception is the "Notes" field - any default value will be placed at the beginning of any imported data.
The second dialog box displayed when importing an ADIF file allows you to provide default "Station Info" field values for each imported log entry. You have the choice of:
Note that any Station Info fields found within the imported file will not be over-written by default values you have defined.
For more info on Station Info fields see Station Info Fields.
The last dialog box displayed when importing a file allows you to specify how duplicate entries will be handled. If the Don't Import Duplicate Entries (Ignore) option is enabled XMLog will not import an entry if it already exists in the log. An entry is considered to be a duplicate entry if the "Call", "Date", "Time", "Frequency" and "Mode" fields are the same - other fields are not checked.
Note that the first entry of the imported file is always checked to see if it already exists in the log regardless of the setting of the "Don't Import Duplicate Entries" option. If the first entry is a duplicate you are given the opportunity to cancel the import.
If the Replace Duplicate Entries with Imported Data option is enabled XMLog will replace the duplicate entry currently in your log with the entry from the file being imported. This option can be useful if you need to re-import a file that contained errors that have been corrected.
Normally entries from ADIF files will designate the appropriate DXCC country for each entry which means that there won't be any "country guessing" required for the imported entries. Some old ADIF files may not contain this information, and, there are applications out there that seem to neglect providing it as well.
If the Verify Country Guesses option is enabled XMLog will prompt you for every DXCC Country that is "guessed" based on the callsign. By default this option is not enabled.
Most logging and contest programs can now export their data as ADIF files but you may have old logs from a program that didn't support ADIF. KA5WSS has created a utility named LogConv that can convert old log files from NA, CT, TRLog, dBase and others to ADIF files. LogConv is available at: www.qsl.net/ka5wss/logconv
Note: If you have an old version of TRLog that created a .dat file with the first line of the form: "1998 CQ WW CW W1ECT" change it to: "1998 CQ WW Contest W1ECT". This is the format for the header used by later versions of TRLog. (LogConv doesn't recognize this header and gives a misleading error message 'Error opening xxx.yyy').
As noted above, log entries contained in ADIF files normally include a unique numeric identifier that specifies the DXCC country. Any program that includes these values in the ADIF files it creates will have DXCC countries set correctly when that file is imported by XMLog.
If you find that the ADIF file you want to import does not include the DXCC values how do you deal with imported entries that may not have had their DXCC country set correctly? Most bad "guesses" occur because XMLog has no knowledge of how various prefixes have been allocated throughout history. Other bad "guesses" are related to prefixes for countries that have become deleted.
For some background on deleted countries and how to change prefixes for imported log entries review the section on The Country/Prefix List.
Here's an example that describes how to handle old OK prefixes that were "mis-guessed". OK as Czechoslovakia was deleted 01/01/93 and became the Czech Republic. To correct the old QSOs that were guessed as the Czech Republic first select all the old OK entries by searching with the Date field set to <01/01/93 and the Prefix field set to OK. Then choose Edit/Change Prefix for Multiple Entries and change OK to *OK. When changing the prefix be sure to specify Selected Log Entries rather than All Log Entries (otherwise you'll change all the new OK entries as well!).
Here's another example, old East German QSOs. Select all the old East German QSOs that were guessed as Germany by searching with the Prefix key set to DL and the Call key set to =Y[2-9]* . This Call search key will match any call starting Y2 through Y9. Next choose Edit/Change Prefix for Multiple Entries and change the selected DL entries to *Y2.
Unfortunately not all changes are so straightforward, especially the reassignments of Russian calls that have been made through the years. After importing a file containing old QSOs choose one of the Display menu items to create a report and satisfy yourself that all the entries are set to the correct country.
If you are only importing a few entries the best strategy may be to verify guesses as each entry is added to the log. Before you start the import choose Options/Verify Country Guesses to enable or disable verification.
The Import/Export ADIF File menu item allows you to create an ADIF file that contains all the entries in your log or just the "currently selected" entries.
If you are going to use the resulting file to make a submission to the ARRL for LoTW or to send eQSLs you can enable the Set LoTW (or eQSL) Sent date to current date Sent date option.