Generating a CQ DX Marathon Submission
If you have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer, DXKeeper can directly generate a Marathon Score Sheet that you can submit to CQ. However, two circumstances can prevent this:
- Windows security settings prevent DXKeeper from interoperating with Excel
- an anti-malware application prevents DXKeeper from interoperating with Excel
If you can't configure Windows and your anti-malware to enable DXKeeper to interoperate with Excel without interference, see the Copying CQ Country and Zone Submission Information into the Submission Scoresheet using Any Spreadsheet Application section below.
If you use OpenOffice Calc, see the Submission Scoresheet Generation using Using Open Office section below.
If you use a spreadsheet application other than Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc, see the Copying CQ Country and Zone Submission Information into the Submission Scoresheet using Any Spreadsheet Application section below.
Direct Submission Scoresheet Generation using Microsoft Excel
In the Marathon Bands & Modes panel on the Configuration window's Awards tab,
confirm that the band, mode, Include QSOs with no propagation mode, and Max TX power options are configured as desired
click the Year, Category, Score Sheet Info button to display the Marathon Year, Category, and Score Sheet Information window
In the Marathon Year, Category, and Score Sheet Information window,
set the Current year to the year for which you wish the Marathon submission to be generated
select the Category for which you wish the Marathon submission to be generated: Mixed, a particular single-band, or a particular single-mode; QSOs whose band and mode are not consistent with the selected Category will not be considered for includsion in the generated submission
click the Select button, and use the Select empty Excel Score Sheet window to select the appropriate Marathon Score Sheet (available here)
specify the Callsign, Name, Street address, City, State/Province, Country, Postal Code, CQ Zone, Email Address, Club Name, and Comments that should be included in your Score Sheet.
the Class specified in your Score Sheet (Unlimited, Formula <= 100 watts, or Formula <= 10 watts) is determined by the Max TX power option in the Marathon Bands & Modes panel; if you've specified a Max TX power of 100 or less, specify your antenna type, height above ground, and length in the Antenna Description
In the CQ DX Marathon panel on the Check Progress tab of DXKeeper's Main window, click the Submission button; DXKeeper will generate a completed Score Sheet in Excel format (.xls), place this Score Sheet in DXKeeper's Reports folder, and direct Excel to display it.
- Carefully review the generated Score Sheet before you submit it.
Note that the above procedure
- does not modify the unpopulated Score Sheet selected in step 2c above; this unpopulated Score Sheet is used solely as a template
- creates a comma-delimited file (.csv format) in DXKeeper's Reports folder; this file contains just the QSO information, and can be deleted if desired
Submission Scoresheet Generation Using Open Office
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Open the CSV submission file using OpenOffice Calc (if not opened automatically).
In the Text Import window that appears:
Under Separator options, select Separated by and check (only) Comma. Uncheck all others.
Click OK
Click on cell C1 (Day column, first row)
Scroll down to the last populated row (Zone 40), and shift-click in the H (callsign) column of that row. You should now have selected all of the data, but excluding the prefix and entity name columns.
From the Edit menu, select Copy
Download the latest OpenOffice format score sheet for the appropriate year from http://www.dxmarathon.com/ and open it using OpenOffice Calc
Click in the cell for the Day column of the first entity in the table
From the Edit menu, select Paste Special...
In the Paste Special window:
Under Selection, check (only) Text and Numbers. Uncheck all others.
Under Options, uncheck all boxes
Under Operations, select None
Under Shift cells, select Don't shift
Click OK
The YOUR SCORE section at the top should now be correctly populated.
Fill in the other yellow areas of the form as appropriate (including SUBMISSION INFORMATION at the top, and the area for comments at the bottom)
From the File menu, select Save As...
Navigate to an appropriate location to save the file (e.g. Desktop)
Under File name, type the callsign being used in the submission
Save as type should be ODF Spreadsheet (.ods)
Check Automatic file name extension
Click Save
You should now find the <callsign>.ods file at the location you selected. Submit as instructed at http://www.dxmarathon.com/
Copying CQ Country and Zone Submission Information into the Submission Scoresheet using Any Spreadsheet Application
In the Marathon Bands & Modes panel on the Configuration window's Awards tab,
confirm that the band, mode, Include QSOs with no propagation mode, and Max TX power options are configured as desired
click the Year, Category, Score Sheet Info button to display the Marathon Year, Category, and Score Sheet Information window
In the Marathon Year, Category, and Score Sheet Information window,
set the Current year to the year for which you wish a Marathon submission to be generated
select the Category for which you wish the Marathon submission to be generated: Mixed, a particular single-band, or a particular single-mode; QSOs whose band and mode are not consistent with the selected Category will not be considered for includsion in the generated submission
In the CQ DX Marathon panel on the Check Progress tab of DXKeeper's Main window, click the Submission button; DXKeeper will generate a Marathon Submission file in comma-delimited format (.csv) in DXKeeper's Reports sub-folder
Direct your spreadsheet application to open the CQ DX Marathon Official Score Sheet, which is available here; in this spreadsheet,
- Specify your Callsign, Name, and Street in cells B5, C5, and D5 respectively
- Specify your City, State/Province, Country, and Postal Code in cells B7, C7, D7, and G7 respectively
- Specify your CQ Zone, Email Address, and Club Name in cells B9, C9, and C9 respectively
- Place an X in cell G10, G11, or G12 to specify the class in which you're competing
- If you're competing in a Formula Class, specify your antenna type, height above ground, and length in cell B14
- Direct your spreadsheet application to open the Marathon Submission file in comman-delimited format (.csv) that DXKeeper generated in step 3 above
- Direct your spreadsheet application to
- copy the region C1:H386 from the generated Marathon Submission file to the Windows clipboard
- paste the values in the Windows clipboard into the region D17:I402 of the CQ DX Marathon Official Score Sheet
- verify that the correct score appears in cells I4 through I6 of the CQ DX Marathon Official Score Sheet
- Save the now-populated CQ DX Marathon Official Score Sheet
- Carefully review the Score Sheet before you submit it.