Managing Multiple Operating Locations

If all of your QSOs were made from the same operating location, then all logged QSOs will "count" towards all awards, and the QTH-related information printed on QSL card never changes. All QSOs can be submitted to the same eQSL.cc account, and if all of your QSOs were made using the same Station Callsign, you can submit them to LoTW with the same Station Location. If that's the case now, and this is unlikely to change in the future, then there is no reason to define even one my QTH, much less several.

However, if you've made QSOs from more than one operating location, then

* only some of your QSOs may count towards some of the awards you're pursuing; QSOs made in pursuit of ARRL WAS awards, for example, must be made from locations that no two of which are more than 50 miles apart.

* some of the information you print on an outgoing QSL card -- your grid square, state or province, city, CQ zone -- may vary as a function of the location from which the QSO was made

* each QSO must be submitted to the appropriate EQSL.cc account

* each QSO must be submitted with the appropriate LoTW Station Location

If you define a my QTH for each location from which you've operated, DXKeeper can provide helpful automation.

The sections and links below explain how to

Defining a "my QTH"

  1. select the Main window's my QTHs tab

  2. Click the New button

  3. Specify a unique ID

    • a town name is usually a good choice unless you've operated from more than one location within the same town
    • the ID cannot contain a single apostrophe

    • if you have already defined eQSL.cc Nicknames to distinguish the eQSL.cc accounts you've established for each location from which you've operated, choosing my QTH IDs that match your Nicknames will greatly simplify submission to eQSL.cc; see the Managing Multiple "my QTHs" with eQSL.cc section below.

  4. Specify the other information you want associated with this my QTH; typically you should specify your

    • Name

    • Street address

    • Pri Sub (Primary Administrative Subdivision, e.g. your State or Province or Bundesland or Department or Oblast or Prefecture or ...)

    • Sec Sub (Secondary Administrative Subdivision, e.g. your County or District or City/Gun or ...)

    • Country name

    • PostCode

    • Grid square

    • CQ zone

    • ITU zone

    • IOTA tag

  5. set the LotW selector to the Station Location associated with this location

  6. If QSOs made from this my QTH will count towards your https://www.iota-world.org award progress, check the IOTA box; otherwise, uncheck it.

  7. If QSOs made from this my QTH will count towards your ARRL VUCC award progress, check the VUCC box; otherwise, uncheck it.

  8. If QSOs made from this my QTH will count towards your ARRL WAS award progress, check the WAS box; otherwise, uncheck it.

  9. Click the Save button

The ID of the my QTH you've just defined will now be available as a choice in

Logging QSOs from a "my QTH"

Importing QSOs made from a "my QTH"

QSOs imported from an ADIF file that specify a my QTH ID in their App_DXKeeper_My_QTHID field will include that my QTH ID. DXKeeper includes the App_DXKeeper_My_QTHID field when exporting a QSO that specifies a my QTH ID.

You can specify a my QTH ID that should be imported with any QSO that does not include an App_DXKeeper_My_QTHID field. Before initiating the import operation, in the Substitution options panel on the Main window's Import QSOs tab,

  1. check the box to the left of the words Substitute for missing QTH Identifiers

  2. select the desired my QTH ID in the selector to the right of the words Substitute for missing QTH Identifiers

Updating Logged QSOs to Reflect the "my QTH" from which they were made

Including "my QTH" information on Generated QSL cards or labels

A substitition command is replaced by information from the item it specifies. For example, <city> is replaced by the city specified in the my QTH specified by a QSO's my QTH ID. Substitution commands can be placed

For example, setting the Default QSL Message to nice to work you from <city> or using my <rig> and <ant> would automatically print the appropriate message on outgoing QSL cards or labels.

The full set of substitution commands is ducumented here.

Automatically Including the Name of Your Transceiver on Generated QSL Cards and Labels

If Commander is controlling more than one Primary Radio, you can arrange for the <rig> substitution command to be replaced by the name of the Primary Radio you were using when you made the QSO. Suppose you are operating from a My QTH whose ID is Chippewa, and have two Primary Transceivers, named IC-7600 and K3.

  1. Define a new My QTH whose ID is Chippewa:IC-7600; its contents should be identical to that of your Chippewa My QTH, with its Rig box set to Icom 7600.

  2. Define a new My QTH whose ID is Chippewa:K3; its contents should be identical to that of your Chippewa My QTH, with its Rig box set to Elecraft K3.

  3. In the Log Settings panel on the Configuration window's Log tab

    1. check the Include radio name in QTH ID box

    2. set the root QTH ID box to Chippewa:

If your K3 is the current Primary Transceiver selected in Commander, DXKeeper will set the Log Settings panel's default QTH ID to Chippewa:K3. If you select your IC-7600, DXKeeper will automatically change the Log Settings panel's default QTH ID to Chippewa:IC-7600. Each logged QSO with thus record a "My QTH ID" that specifies a "My QTH" whose Rig item specifies the correct transceiver.

Incorporating the <rig> substitution command in each QSO's QSL Msg item will enable generated QSL cards and 2-column labels to display the transceiver you used to make the QSO.

Automatically Including the Name of Your Antenna on Generated QSL Cards and Labels

In the definition of a myQTH on the Main window's my QTHs tab, the Ant textbox supports a specific format for describing an antenna configuration for each of several bands, permitting the <bandant> substitution command (and the <myqthbandant> substitution command in WinWarbler) to automatically extract the description of the antenna for the current band:

[antX: description]

where X is the band, and description is the description of the antenna for that band. This example describes antennas for the 160m, 80m, and 40m bands:

[ant160m:1/4 wave inverted L][ant80m:1/4 wave vertical][ant40m:F12 240/420 at 80 feet]

Incorporating the <ant> substitution command in each QSO's QSL Msg item will enable generated QSL cards and 2-column labels to display the transceiver you used to make the QSO.

Additional Information and Capabilities


Post a question or suggestion on the DXLab Discussion Group

Getting Started with Logging

Getting Started with QSLing

Getting Started with Award Tracking

Getting Started with DXLab

ManageMultipleQTHs (last edited 2023-12-22 21:03:17 by AA6YQ)